DNA testing on clothing to arrest in another Florida rape case from 1980s

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — For the second time in a year, authorities in a south Florida community have used DNA evidence to identify and arrest a suspect in a decades-old rape case.

Timothy Norris, 60, is charged in the knifepoint rape of a Florida woman at her home in 1983, Coral Springs police spokesman Tyler Reik said Friday. Authorities found Norris serving time for bank robbery at a West Virginia federal prison, Reik said.

In the Aug. 22, 1983, rape, the woman told investigators she awoke around 6 a.m. to find a stranger in her bedroom, according to an incident report. When she screamed, he told her three times that he wasn't going to hurt her. "I have loved you for months," he reportedly told her when it was over. "You have very nice children and a nice husband." He then put a pillow over her face and left.

The evidence was sent to the Broward Sheriff's Office, but the technology at the time didn't lead investigators to a suspect.

Reik told news outlets that when evidence including a sample of her clothing was processed at the Broward Sheriff's Crime Lab, investigators found Norris' DNA on it.

Investigators did recover evidence from the scene and it was sent to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Crime lab, but Coral Springs police said the technology at the time was not able to identify a suspect and other techniques failed as well.

However, on March 14, 2019 detectives and crime scene investigators re-evaluated the evidence as part of a cold case initiative for the Coral Springs Police Department. Using current technology at BSO’s lab, on June 27th, detectives discovered DNA on a piece of the victim’s clothing which matched Norris, according to the sheriff’s office.

In that case, Coral Springs police arrested Frank Montana, who had escaped for three decades after a Coral Springs woman awoke to a ski-masked man standing over her bed.

Police say he put a gloved hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, told her he had a gun and raped her. Thanks to DNA testing of old evidence, Montana is now behind bars in Broward jail, awaiting trial.

In the Norris case, police identified several items of evidence and sent them to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab for processing, police said. This time, thanks to advances in technology, police made a match from a sample of her clothing that had Norris’ DNA on it, Reik said.

Norris, who is currently serving a federal sentence in West Virginia for armed bank robbery, has prior arrests for armed burglary, aggravated assault, assault on a female and kidnapping.

I have followed this sub and the other sub for some time now. I have held back on my opinion and my theory as I was still undecided and there was a lot of information to process. I admit I only knew of the basics of this case until I started to look in to it more and the posts on this sub have been very informative. With that said I have a few questions that I would love anyone who believes IDI to answer for me:

If the purpose of the RN was to misdirect the police then why would an intruder want to misdirect the police by having them look outside the home? If an intruder was able to break in undedicated and with no evidence of a break in, then why try to make the police look in your direction? Wouldn’t it put the focus on the parents more if you just left the body in the home the way it was?

Why would an intruder write this long ass ransom note with a pen and paper from the home? Why would he put it back neatly in its place? How could he see what he was writing in the dark? Alternatively for those who believe he hid in the home and wrote the RN while waiting what exactly was his purpose to do this? Just to mess with them? And again why would he neatly put the pen and paper back in its spot? Wouldn’t you want to leave no evidence of yourself in the home? Isn’t it incredibly risky to leave pages of your handwriting in the home?

How did the intruder know that there was no alarm system? Or a huge dog? Or that the Ramsey’s could have had guests staying with them? How could the intruder know that the Ramseys weren’t going to have family staying with them which would mean more people around, the potential for someone to wake up and catch you, or someone who is a night owl and planned on staying up all night in the living room watching tv?

How did he navigate in this huge maze of a home in the dark?

How did he get JonBenet out of her bed without her waking up and screaming? The stun gun theory has so many flaws. What if it didn’t work? What if she was able to scream before being subdued? What if she was sleeping with her parents or her brother that night? It was Christmas. It seems like the worst day ever for an intruder to break in because of the potential for guests in the home and there is a higher chance of the Ramsey’s letting their children sleep with them because of the holiday.

Why would the intruder want to attack her or sexually violate her in the home? Wouldn’t he want to immediately gtfo so he can do whatever he wanted to without the chance of being caught?

Did the intruder have a car? He must have. Where did he park? Wouldn’t he be worried that a neighbor would see him?

So here is my theory: I believe there was incest going on in the home. I recently read a post on here that was a transcript of an investigator. If someone could point me in the direction of that post again I’d appreciate it. This person mentioned something along the lines of how the family related to each other and pretty much said without saying that the family was engaged in incest relations with each other. I think there was some dark secrets in that home. Not sure if both parents were molesting JonBenet but I think John was at least. However I think what happened that night exists outside of the abuse. I think JonBenet and Burke came home and ate pineapple as a snack before bed. Everyone gets ready for bed after but then something happens. I think Patsy might have lost her cool and hit JonBenet in the head with the flashlight. I think Burke was in bed the entire time. The rest of the night the parents stage the crime scene in the basement. Patsy wrote the note. I think the plan was for John to eventually get rid of her body but then obviously was not able to do so. I think the parents fully expected to be arrested. They lawyered up and refused to talk because they were guilty. I would never speak to the police without a lawyer but if my child was savagely murdered in my own home I would be helping the police every step of the way to catch the intruder.

Some last points I want to make. How can anyone be IDI? The dna is a red herring. It’s most likely touch dna. I read that there were 5 profiles meaning 5 different people. So do IDIers think 5 pedophiles came through the basement window on Christmas night and without being caught murdered JonBenet in the basement? How did they know where the new bloomies were? How did they know where Burke’s knife was if it was hidden in a closet? Why did John try immediately flying out of Bolder 30 mins after finding his daughters body? Why was Burke not scared of anything after his sister was brutally murdered in his home? Could this be that Burke heard his parents up all night staging the crime scene? Why did the Ramsey’s not start freaking out when no phone call came in that morning? After they discovered the RN and called 911 why did they not search every room of their home? What if the intruder was still there? What if it was a sick joke and JonBenet was hiding somewhere? I know it’s highly unlikely but I think most people would be trying to think of anything besides the horrible fact that their daughter was gone. And why would they invite the friends over?? Why weren’t Patsy and John near each other that morning and clinging to each other? Why did Patsy not immediately run to John when he came up the stairs holding JonBenet(away from him I would like to add) Why did they send Burke to the Fernies? Wouldn’t be more safe in their home full of cops?

Honestly I could keep going on and on pointing out the Ramsey’s strange behavior but it’s almost too much to list. I honestly think anyone who is IDI at this point is either working on behalf of the Ramsey’s, haven’t looked at all the evidence or they have boughten in to the Ramsey PR machine. I tend to think that is the case with most IDI. They can’t imagine that this wealthy, perfect and Christian family could do such a thing. Please. Lots of horrible stuff goes on behind closed doors. They say weird things like “The Ramsey’s didn’t watch movies” Even though Patsy admitted to watching movies as a family in bed and John had movie posters in the basement. They try to explain away all the huge huge huge problems with their behavior and the lies they told. And the fact that it took them 4 months to sit down for an interview. The only reason the Ramsey’s aren’t in jail is because of their money. The DA didn’t want to press charges because it’s hard to prove exactly who killed her and who did what part of the staging. With the Ramsey’s lawyers they would have had an OJ situation on their hands.

I read a comment once by and IDIer that said they imagine they would have liked Patsy and they would have been good friends. I almost gagged. Patsy was not a good friend to her friends when she started to point the finger at them when her plans to cast suspicion on the help didn’t work. Unless if this poster who made that comment was a wealthy and privileged stay at home mom then I doubt Patsy would have been friends with them. Patsy was obsessed with her family image and how their family was presented to the world. More of a reason she was able to keep quiet about the truth of what happened that Christmas night. God forbid the secret got out about the incest and abuse in her “perfect family”

I have followed this sub and the other sub for some time now. I have held back on my opinion and my theory as I was still undecided and there was a lot of information to process. I admit I only knew of the basics of this case until I started to look in to it more and the posts on this sub have been very informative. With that said I have a few questions that I would love anyone who believes IDI to answer for me:

If the purpose of the RN was to misdirect the police then why would an intruder want to misdirect the police by having them look outside the home? If an intruder was able to break in undedicated and with no evidence of a break in, then why try to make the police look in your direction? Wouldn’t it put the focus on the parents more if you just left the body in the home the way it was?

Why would an intruder write this long ass ransom note with a pen and paper from the home? Why would he put it back neatly in its place? How could he see what he was writing in the dark? Alternatively for those who believe he hid in the home and wrote the RN while waiting what exactly was his purpose to do this? Just to mess with them? And again why would he neatly put the pen and paper back in its spot? Wouldn’t you want to leave no evidence of yourself in the home? Isn’t it incredibly risky to leave pages of your handwriting in the home?

How did the intruder know that there was no alarm system? Or a huge dog? Or that the Ramsey’s could have had guests staying with them? How could the intruder know that the Ramseys weren’t going to have family staying with them which would mean more people around, the potential for someone to wake up and catch you, or someone who is a night owl and planned on staying up all night in the living room watching tv?

How did he navigate in this huge maze of a home in the dark?

How did he get JonBenet out of her bed without her waking up and screaming? The stun gun theory has so many flaws. What if it didn’t work? What if she was able to scream before being subdued? What if she was sleeping with her parents or her brother that night? It was Christmas. It seems like the worst day ever for an intruder to break in because of the potential for guests in the home and there is a higher chance of the Ramsey’s letting their children sleep with them because of the holiday.

Why would the intruder want to attack her or sexually violate her in the home? Wouldn’t he want to immediately gtfo so he can do whatever he wanted to without the chance of being caught?

Did the intruder have a car? He must have. Where did he park? Wouldn’t he be worried that a neighbor would see him?


Some last points I want to make. How can anyone be IDI? The dna is a red herring. It’s most likely touch dna.