SERIAL RAPIST CONVICTED USING FORENSIC GENETIC GENEALOGY

On August 12, 1990, “Jane” was working the late shift as a waitress at the Western
Sizzlin in Flowood. Jane later said she took the job because she was new in the area and
wanted to meet as many people as possible.

Once off work she talked with a few coworkers in the parking lot. One of these
coworkers was interested in purchasing the Dodge van. Jane and her coworkers all got
in the van and looked around. After congregating for a few minutes, the group
separated, and Jane got into her van to go home. She followed a coworker the short
distance to the downtown exit in Brandon.

Photo of Jane’s Van

Just a half-mile from her home, Jane stopped at the Texaco to get her children
some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Jane’s co-worker honked as a final goodbye as she
continued to her home. Jane went inside to make her purchase and noticed the windows
in the gas station were fogged because of the humidity. She noticed a man near the pay
phone to her right and a family with car problems to her left.
 Photo of Texaco

Jane was only inside for a few minutes. She got back in her van and started the
quick trip home. After driving a short distance, a shadow emerged in her rear-view mirror.
This, however, was no shadow but a man wielding a knife. This man rushed her and
quickly put his knife to her neck. This knife caused a cut to her neck. He shouted that
she stop the van. He reached up and put the van into park. He commanded her to get
on the floorboard of the vehicle and not to look at him. All the while this man kept a knife
at her neck. She complied and he drove the van to a rural area in the county. Once at
this location, he parked the van and then forced Jane to strip off her clothing. This man
then forcibly raped Jane at knifepoint.

Photo of the inside of van

Once he was finished, the attacker made her cover her face as they left the area.
He drove back to what she would later discover was the Exit 56 onramp headed west.
She told the authorities he rummaged through her belongings. She reported to the police
that she was missing $40 and some of her Western Sizzlin name cards. He instructed her
not to call the police. He told her if she called the police he would come to her home and
harm her family. The attacker left her and slithered into the darkness to make his
getaway.
 Jane drove the van onto the interstate and quickly realized she was headed west
towards the Crossgates Brandon exit. She made her way back home, at which point she
called for an ambulance. Once at Rankin General Hospital, she was subjected to a rape
examination. Investigator Don Magee came to the hospital early that morning to collect
the evidence from the rape examination.
Investigator Magee thoroughly investigated the case. He took photos of the van
and canvased the nearby area. He looked at other potential suspects. He took Jane for
hypnosis to try and help remember other details of the rape. He faxed reports across the
nation to other agencies looking for similar crimes. The crime went cold until they received
a letter from Rubin Weeks.

Photo of Weeks from approximately 1991

Weeks was doing time in Missouri for similar crimes. Weeks claimed to have
committed the crimes against Jane. Despite his letter, Brandon Police Department was
skeptical of the confession. Nevertheless, Weeks was interviewed by Investigator
Magee. The details provided did not match the facts of the crime. Nevertheless,
Investigator Magee collected the evidence from the sexual assault examination as well
as evidence from Rubin Weeks. That evidence was sent to the crime lab and though
Weeks was not a match, he could not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, Jane continued to try to recover from this crime. Her husband was
also having trouble dealing with the crime. Overcome with guilt from being unable to
protect Jane, he tried to take his own life but was unsuccessful. He was left as a
quadriplegic and later died of those injuries. Jane was left with several small children to
raise on her own. Despite law enforcement’s best efforts the case went cold.
 David Ruth is the current Rankin County Coroner. However, in 1990 David was a
patrol officer with Brandon Police Department. David was not working the night of Jane’s
rape, but he became aware of this crime the next day. This type of thing didn’t happen in
Brandon in 1990.

Photo of David Ruth early in his career

In 2004, David had progressed in his career and was an investigator with Brandon
PD. This case had always bothered David. So, when David became an investigator, he
decided to reopen the case. After a thorough review of the file and the evidence, Ruth
was also convinced that Weeks did not commit the crimes. By 2004, DNA had progressed
and was used in many cases to help solve crimes. As a result, David sent the evidence
collected from Jane and Weeks to the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory for comparison.
In 2004, the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory was contracting with a company
called Reliagene in New Orleans, Louisiana to perform some of their DNA testing.
Through two different tests in 2005 and 2006, Weeks was eliminated as a suspect using
DNA analysis. There was however an unknown DNA profile developed. This unknown
DNA profile not (Rubin Weeks) was the person that raped Jane. This DNA profile was
sent to the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and was uploaded to CODIS (Combined
Organized DNA Index System).
The case went cold until 2017. That was until Deedra Hughes, a DNA Analyst and
CODIS administrator with the Mississippi Forensic Laboratory, received notification that
the DNA profile in Jane’s case matched with a case in Memphis, Tennessee. Though the
match in Tennessee didn’t happen until 2017, the crime in Memphis occurred just 30 days
after the crime in Brandon.
 Annette Cotton, an investigator with the cold case unit with the Shelby County
Tennessee Sheriff’s Department contacted Beau Edgington with the Brandon Police
Department to compare details of the crime. In the Memphis case, “Kim” got off work
after a late shift at a local Memphis Hospital. She stopped her SUV at a local convenience
store to grab a quick snack before heading home. She made her purchase and returned
to her SUV to drive the rest of the way home. As she began to pull out of the parking lot,
a man in the back seat sprung from behind her and sliced open her face. He then put the
knife to her neck and forced her to the passenger seat. He then instructed Kim not to
look at him. Instinctively she glanced over and in return he struck her already injured
face.
He drove Kim to a remote area and stopped the car on the interstate. He made her
take off her clothing. He then forcibly raped Kim by knife point. He covered her face and
then drove back to the interstate. He then robbed her. Before leaving, he looked at her
license and threatened her. He told her that if she called the police he would come to her
home and harm her family. Finally, he took her keys and threw them into the darkness.
She locked the car after he exited. At some point she went to get the keys and
inadvertently locked herself out of the car. This left Kim naked on the interstate in the
middle of the night. Several truckers stopped and helped her to the hospital. Once at the
hospital, she was given a sexual assault examination. The evidence from this
examination stayed dormant until 2016 when Shelby County Tennessee processed and
uploaded the evidence to CODIS along with other cold cases.
The case went cold again until 2020. By 2020, David Ruth left the Brandon Police
Department and was working with the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office as a part-
time investigator. He was also the Rankin County Coroner.
 David had repeatedly told the prosecutors in the District Attorney’s office about
Jane’s case. Assistant District Attorney Ryan Berry previously read several books about
the Golden State Killer (GSK) and how investigators in California used Forensic Genetic
Genealogy to capture him. In 2021, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office conducted
a seminar in Oxford featuring former California district attorney Greg Toten. Toten gave
examples of how they caught the GSK. Berry left there believing investigators could solve
the case using genetic genealogy. Berry and Ruth pitched this idea to District Attorney
John K. Bramlett. He agreed to fund this pricey endeavor. Berry and Ruth then contacted
the Brandon Police Department evidence custodian, Mark Miller, to locate the evidence
that had been lying dormant in the secure vault for so many years.
After locating the evidence, the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office contacted
Deedra Hughes with the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory about how to proceed with
further testing. She recommended a company called Bode Technology. Bode
Technology is a private DNA laboratory that provides a service called Investigative
Genetic Genealogy. Teresa Vreeland is the Director of the Forensic Genealogy division
of Bode and helped the Rankin District Attorney’s Office with this process. David Ruth
sent Bode the evidence in order to develop another DNA profile of the suspect. Once the
suspect’s DNA profile was developed from the evidence swabs, that profile was uploaded
to find genealogical matches. This is similar to the process used by websites like
ancestry.com and 23andme.com. After a long and exhaustive process of reconstructing
family trees using birth, death, and marriage records from across the county, Bode
worked backwards to build a family tree of the suspect.
In 2023, Bode was able to focus these matches and determined the perpetrator of
this crime was either Skaggs or one of his two brothers. In 2023, Daniel Ray Skaggs was
a resident of Oklahoma. Daniel Ray Skaggs’ background was investigated, and it was
discovered that he had been charged and convicted of several counts of rape in 1977 in
the Dallas, Texas area. In these rapes, he broke into young womens’ apartments and
ambushed them. Once inside their homes he would forcibly rape them. He was convicted
of rape and burglary where he served approximately 8 years in a Texas prison. Once
released he moved to Arkansas where he became a truck driver for Meyers Bread
Company, making deliveries across the country.

Photo from Texas Dept. of Corrections (1977)

The Rankin District Attorney’s office also learned that in 1991 in Newnan, Georgia,
Skaggs abducted another woman after she left Walmart. Tate Washington, an officer in
Newnan, noticed a suspicious man in a vehicle and attempted to make an investigatory
stop. “Cindy” jumped out of the van and was yelling “knife”. Cindy ran to this officer for
safety. Officer Washington attempted to stop this person and was almost struck by the
abductor. The person was eventually stopped, and was identified as Daniel Ray Skaggs.
Cindy was a native of Germany and left the country before Skaggs could be tried with the
kidnapping and attempted rape. Skaggs was acquitted on charges of assault on an officer
and presumably returned to Arkansas.
 Photo from Skaggs arrest in Newnan Georgia (1991)

After learning of Skaggs criminal history, the Rankin County District Attorney’s
Office contacted the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations. Agent Josh Dean was assigned
to assist with the investigation of this case. Agent Dean surveilled Skaggs and was able
to collect discarded items in the trash including a C-PAP mask and a pill bottle with the
name Daniel Ray Skaggs printed on the label.

Items of trash collected from Skaggs’s residence

Dean sent these items of trash to Bode technology to see if they could develop a
DNA profile of Skaggs. This profile of Skaggs was developed and compared to the 2005
Reliagene DNA report. The results were staggering. Skaggs’ DNA was a match with a
statistical probability being 1 in 660 quintillion.
With the results of the DNA test in hand, Assistant District Attorneys Kathryn
Newman and Ryan Berry along with and the Victim’s Assistance Coordinator Leslie
Owens from the Rankin County District Attorney’s Office traveled to South Carolina to
inform Jane of the updates in her case. Once landing at the airport, the rental car they
had reserved was not available. In desperation to make their appointment, the trio rented
a U-Haul truck for the day to make the trip to the rural area where Jane lives.

Leslie Owens, Kathryn Newman and Ryan Berry

Skaggs was interviewed by Agent Dean and Deputy Burt. Skaggs initially denied
all allegations, but then changed his story to tell the police that he could not remember
anything from the time of the rapes. Despite his claiming a lack of memory, Skaggs was
able to tell officers precise details about the type of truck he drove in 1990 and 1991.
Skaggs refused to waive extradition to face the charges back in Mississippi. The District
Attorney’s Office was prepared for this as they had already started the extradition
process. Soon thereafter, Skaggs was extradited to Mississippi to face his crimes.

Interview of Skaggs

Once in Mississippi, Deputy Burt presented Judge David Morrow with a search
warrant for the DNA of Skaggs. Burt went to Skaggs and obtained a buccal swab from
him. Burt then took this swab to the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory for comparison to
the original Reliagene DNA profile developed from 05/06 sample. Joe Heflin, a DNA
Analyst with the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory, developed a profile from the buccal
swab. He then compared this sample to the 2006 Reliagene DNA sample that was
developed from the sexual assault kit obtained from Jane in 1990. Again, the results
were staggering. Skaggs DNA was a match with a statistical probability of 1 in 10 billion.
Joe Heflin later testified these results were capped at 10 billion (the approximate
population of the earth).
Daniel Ray Skaggs was indicted by a Rankin County Grand Jury on April 6, 2023
for the crimes of Rape, Kidnapping and Armed Robbery. His trial was set for June 19,
2023 with Judge Dewey Arthur presiding. The State was represented by ADA Kathryn
Newman and ADA Ryan Berry. A jury was selected on June 19, 2023 with testimony
beginning June 20, 2023. The State called 13 witnesses over the next two days calling
both Jane and Kim. The case was given to the jury on June 22, 2023. After deliberating
an hour and a half, the jury found Skaggs guilty of Rape and Kidnapping. Immediately
after the trial, Judge Arthur proceeded with sentencing. Skaggs with sentenced as a
violent habitual offender and given two life sentences consecutive to each other.
After the verdict, District Attorney John Bramlett said “Daniel Ray Skaggs is a serial
rapist who has been a sexual predator since at least 1977. I’m sure Skaggs thought he
had gotten away with these crimes, but we didn’t stop working to get justice for these
brave ladies. The science caught up with Daniel Ray Skaggs and as a result he will spend
his remaining years in prison.” After the verdict, ADA Ryan Berry stated, “this case would
not have been solved without the hard work of several different law enforcement
agencies. We would like to thank the Brandon Police Department, Rankin County
Sheriff’s Department, FBI, Mississippi Forensics Laboratory, Oklahoma Bureau of
Investigations, Bode Technology and the Pearl Police Department for all their help and
teamwork in securing this conviction.”
Bramlett also said, “I want to encourage others that may have been attacked by
Skaggs to come forward and contact their local law enforcement agency. We believe
these are not the only women Skaggs attached and would love help others find justice
and peace. Also, we urge law enforcement agencies across the country with cold cases
meeting these facts to process and upload any sexual assault kits. We believe there will
be other victims of Mr. Skaggs who we would love to see have some closure.”
Defendant:
Name: Daniel Ray Skaggs
Date of Birth: 11/8/1956

Rankin County Jail Booking Photo 2023

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