Cold Case Rape Arrest Made by Phoenixville Police

This morning, years of work paid off for Phoenixville police as rape charges and other charges were filed in a case that’s more than a decade old.

DNA evidence led police to Ronald Ellis Mapp, 35, who is currently serving a prison sentence in a federal penitentiary in Florida for third-degree murder, robbery and other charges stemming from his involvement in a 2002 murder in Allentown at a sports bar and his participation in a robbery ring spanning five counties, according to a press release.

On Sept. 19, 1998 at 6:15 a.m., police responded to Phoenixville Hospital, where they interviewed a 27-year-old woman who had been allegedly raped in a fenced area behind what is now a restaurant at 468 Nutt Road. The woman had been walking on Nutt Road near Althouse Lane when, police allege, a masked man approached her, physically assaulted her and took her to the fenced area where he sexually assaulted her.

No one was ever arrested for the crime, and the case grew cold.

DNA evidence was collected at the time, and in 2002, the sample from the rape was added to a state police database after a DNA profile was created from it. Last November, Detective Sgt. Joseph Nemic of the Phoenixville Police Department received a notification that a preliminary match was made through the database. The match led to Mapp.

Special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations were called in to assist because Mapp is behind bars in Coleman, Fla., after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, robbery and other charges.

The agents interviewed Mapp and established that he had ties to the Phoenixville area at the time of the alleged rape in 1998, according to a press release. A new sample of Mapp’s DNA was obtained, and on Aug. 4, Nemic received confirmation that Mapp’s DNA was a match to the sample collected from the victim in 1998, according to the press release.

Charges were filed this morning in district court.

Mapp will be extradited to Pennsylvania. Charges include a felony count of rape, a felony charge of rape with threat of force, a felony sexual assault charge and a number of misdemeanor charges along with a summary harassment charge.

No date has been set for the preliminary hearing, which will be before District Judge Theodore Michaels in Phoenixville. The case will be prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Steve Kelly.

Mapp is currently serving a 25-year sentence for his involvement in the robbery ring. He was also sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison concurrently for his involvement in the murder, which occurred in April 2002.