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Naomi Martin, Reporter

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Six years after a woman was raped at knife point in East Oak Cliff, a suspect was arrested thanks to
recently tested DNA, police said Tuesday.

Joseph Beaty, 41

Dallas police say Joseph Beaty, 41, is a suspect in at least ve other rapes in the city. Of the six sexual
assaults, police say four were linked to Beaty through DNA from rape kits that were tested as part of
the departments effort to clear its backlog of roughly 4,000 untested kits.
Detectives identied Beaty, of Irving, as a suspect in two more sexual assaults that occurred in 2014.
In those cases, DNA evidence is not available because the victims didnt undergo rape exams,
according to an arrest warrant afdavit.

Police Maj. Jeff Cotner, who oversees violent crime investigations, said Tuesday that in the older
cases, the rape kits werent initially tested because the victims had stopped working with police. In
the past, those kits in those type of cases werent tested. Now, he said all kits are tested.
Police hope Beatys arrest will spark condence among other victims so they will help authorities
pursue charges against him for all his crimes, Cotner said. The ve cases remain under investigation.
Were not done yet, Cotner said. We plan on putting every case we can on him.
The victims may have stopped working with police because they were traumatized, or they felt the
detectives didn't question them with sensitivity, Cotner said. Today, detectives partner with victim
advocates and counselors to make victims more comfortable, Cotner said.
Now police are able to go back to the victims and say, Give us an opportunity to hold this person
accountable for victimizing you as well, Cotner said.
Beaty was arrested last year in connection with a rape in Arlington that occurred in 2013. A grand jury
declined to indict him. But if not for that arrest, Beatys DNA may not have made it into a national
database, and so Dallas police wouldnt have matched him to their cases.
According to the recent arrest warrant afdavit, Beaty approached the victim as she walked outside
her home on March 31, 2009, in the 3600 block of Meyers Street.
Beaty drove up in a dark sedan and asked the woman if she wanted a ride, police said. The woman
agreed, and Beaty drove to a secluded wooded area in the 4000 block of East Overton Road, and
brandished a large knife, police said.
Beaty ordered the woman to get naked, police said. She feared he was going to stab her, so she
complied, according to the afdavit.
After the rape, Beaty pulled up his pants and turned away, giving the victim a chance to run away,
leaving her purse and pants in his car, police said.
The rape kit sat untested until the Dallas Police Departments sexual assault kit cold case initiative
which began last October. Some of the untested kits date back to 1996.
Detectives met with the victim on July 20 and showed her Beatys photo. She said she didnt recognize
him and had never had consensual sex with him.

Beatys defense attorney, Jasmine Crockett, didnt return a call seeking comment.

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