Roy Charles Waller's Crimes
The first attack happened in June 1991 in Rohnert Park, a small city outside of Santa Rosa, Calif. The next attack was reported six months later, and the third occurred in February 1992. That victim was also kidnapped.
No attacks were reported again until Halloween night in 1996, when a woman said she was raped in Contra Costa County. The next attack, the first of three cases in Yolo County, was reported in November 1996. Then in January 1997, two women were kidnapped and assaulted in their apartment. Six months later, the NorCal Rapist allegedly kidnapped a woman in Butte County and held her for ransom; police said they had DNA evidence of the attacker because the victim stabbed him in the arm.
Another attack wasn't reported until 2000. Six years later, a final attack attributed to the NorCal Rapist against two women was reported in Sacramento.
Once identified, police initially charged Waller with 12 felony counts related to the 2006 attack. He was eventually charged with 46 felony counts total.
The DNA Link
Police had Waller’s unidentified DNA, but they weren’t able to match it to anyone because his DNA was not in the state’s criminal offender database. Then, in September 2018, biological evidence left at a crime scene was used to develop a specialized DNA profile, according to the district attorney’s office.
Using investigative genetic genealogy—a combination of traditional genealogy and genetic genealogy—investigators tracked down a list of the suspect’s potential relatives and were able to narrow in on Waller.
Users who have obtained DNA profiles from commercial companies such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe can upload them to GEDMatch to expand their search for relatives. Law enforcement officials don't need a court order to access GEDMatch's public database and can use what people upload to find DNA matches left at crime scenes. However, police would not confirm if one of Waller’s relatives uploaded DNA to the site.
GEDMatch is the same website investigators used to identify the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist as former cop Joseph DeAngelo.
In the NorCal Rapist case, the suspect left DNA on comforters, pillowcases and underwear recovered from the crime scenes. Once investigators had Waller as a suspect, they used that crime scene DNA to test it against DNA that Waller left on the straw of a fast food cup recovered by investigators.
“The victims waited for decades for justice and it was only through the use of IGG that the identification and arrest of Waller was possible,” the district attorney’s office said in a press release.
After he was identified, police searched Waller’s storage unit and found a bag that contained ropes, duct tape, handcuffs, zip ties and women's undergarments. Waller claims the items were used in consensual relations with a former girlfriend and her friends.
He has repeatedly denied any connection to any rapes.
Roy Charles Waller's Victims
Waller’s elder parole eligibility has worried his victims, who were relieved to finally see him behind bars, where they expected him to live out the remainder of his life.
The new parole program allows for the release of inmates over the age of 50 who have served 20 years of their sentence. Waller is 66 and has served five years of his sentence; he could be released by the time he turns 86.
"If somebody is bedbound and unable to actually do something, the Department of Corrections could release them through a compassionate release. But the legislature has an act on something called elder parole, which makes people eligible for release as young as in their 50s," Chris Orr, Assistant Chief District Attorney for Sacramento County, said.
During Waller's initial sentencing in 2020, one of his victims wrote an impact statement that said “this incident has strongly impacted my daily life. It has been so many years, but I will never forget that day.”
“I always have insecure feelings and cannot be left alone or tolerate any sudden noise,” she wrote. “I greatly appreciated those who resolved the mystery and brightened up so many survivors’ lives. Because of the safety of so many people out there, he has to stay in the box. He deserves the punishment for the rest of his life. Sitting in the box, let his conscience kill him every single moment and hopefully, he will think through what he has done for so many years and to many victims.”
Two of the six women, both attacked in the early 1990s, returned to the courtroom after he gained parole eligibility in 2026 to give statements again.
"I fought for 27 years until he was arrested after he committed his crimes against me, 29 years to make sure that he served the punishment that he deserved for what he had done to all of these people," Nicole Ernest-Payte, believed to be Waller’s first victim, told the court.
Judge James Arguelles was also concerned about the possibility of Waller’s release and the new law.
“If he's not a danger to society, then I don't know what a danger to society is," he said, KCRA reported.
