Man ID’d from fingerprints admits to 3 rapes in Indiana

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A man who police said committed a series of rapes over a 4-year period has pleaded guilty.

Marquise D. Dozier pleaded guilty to three counts of felony Rape during a hearing in Allen Superior Court.

Fort Wayne Police said a series of rapes had been reported in the overnight hours and within a mile of one another, all in the city’s southeast side. The suspect would enter the home through a window or door, then rape and sometimes batter his victim, police said.

In August 2017, DNA collected from one of the rapes was analyzed at the Indiana State Police lab and was tied to two other unsolved rapes – one from 2015 and another in 2017. The department said previously that the three of the assaults took place in the 4500 block of Park Drive, 5000 block of Bowser Avenue and the 5200 block of Bowser Avenue.

As officers and technicians worked to identify a suspect, the Fort Wayne Police Department used DNA profilers Parabon-Nano Labs, which helped to identify the killer of April Marie Tinsley last year, to create a DNA Snapshot analysis of what the suspect might look like based on his DNA. In January, police released a computerized sketch of a suspect built through DNA technology.

In March, then, detectives identified Dozier through fingerprint evidence collected from one of the scenes. He was interviewed and subsequently arrested after police said he admitted to being involved in three rapes over the last four years.

He faced 10 charges.

In court Thursday, Dozier admitted to using a brick to threaten one woman then raping her. He also admitted to breaking into other homes to rape two other women.

Dozier faces up to 72 years in prison. He’ll be sentenced Sept. 27.