White Plains, New York: A man who was not even a suspect until he voluntarily gave his DNA was convicted on Monday of killing three New York women more than 15 years ago.
Francisco Acevedo, 43, was found guilty of the serial murders on the first day of jury deliberations at the Westchester County courthouse.
He could be sent to prison for 75 years to life when sentenced on January 17.
The killings occurred in Yonkers in 1989, 1991 and 1996. Each woman was found strangled, naked, bound at the hands and facing upward.
They were also linked to each other by DNA, but police did not know whose DNA it was until 2009.
That's when Acevedo, who was in prison on a drunken driving charge, gave his DNA sample as a condition of an optional parole application.
A Yonkers cold-case detective said investigators had looked at "way more than 100" other potential suspects over the years before they found Acevedo's blood sample and matched it to the killings.
District Attorney Janet DiFiore said on Monday, "The evidence based on DNA testing allowed these three murder victims to point the finger of guilt at this defendant".
