BASTROP, TX – A significant breakthrough has emerged in a series of unsolved sexual assault cases in Bastrop County, Texas, which have lingered unresolved for nearly three decades. The Texas Rangers have identified a suspect in these cold cases involving the rapes of elderly women, closing at least three long-standing investigations.
The suspect, Emory Earl McVeigh of Smithville, has been linked to the crimes through DNA evidence. McVeigh, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 48, is believed to be responsible for the assaults. The most recent attack tied to him occurred in March 2005, when an elderly woman was assaulted in her Bastrop County home. DNA evidence collected from the crime scene was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national database.
In October of the same year, the DPS Crime Lab in Austin found a potential match with a similar unsolved case from the summer of 1997 in Smithville, where another elderly woman was raped. A year later, DNA from a third case in July 2005 was linked to the same suspect, prompting authorities to recognize a pattern of a serial rapist targeting elderly women in the area.
Despite collecting samples from potential suspects, no positive matches were found, and the case went cold for 16 years. In 2021, the Texas Rangers revisited the case, utilizing the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which provided funding for further testing.
Bode Technology conducted advanced DNA testing and genealogical research on the samples from the 1997, 2004, and 2005 cases. By August of this year, their efforts yielded a positive match to McVeigh, finally providing closure to the investigations.
McVeigh had a history of criminal activity in central Texas, including multiple burglary convictions, but was never arrested for these assaults. The successful identification was credited to the collaborative efforts of the Texas Rangers, Smithville Police Department, and Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office.