Advanced DNA technology helped South Florida cold case investigators link a man known as the “pillowcase rapist” to a string of sexual assaults stemming back to the 1980s.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that Robert Kohler, 62, had been tied to six rapes after its cold case unit, formed in 2019 to address about 350 cases with dead-end leads, was able to link the crimes using DNA.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said Koehler, who has been incarcerated in Miami-Dade County since January 2020 on charges of sexual battery against one woman in the early 1980s, may have committed between 40 and 45 rapes in the greater Miami area.
Koehler is accused of breaking into the homes of women at night or early in the morning as they either prepared for bed or slept, typically with his face covered by a pillowcase or other fabric and carrying a sharp