Criminal minds - Timothy Spencer

Timothy Spencer is best known for being the first to be identified and convicted as a result of DNA evidence. His rape and murder spree began in January of 1984 when he killed Carol Hamm after raping her in her Arlington, Virginia, home. Another man was convicted of the murder and not released until Spencer was uncovered five years later.

Spencer resumed killing in September of 1987 when he raped and strangled Debby Davis in Richmond, Virginia, and continued just two weeks later with the slaying of Dr. Susan Hellams, also found raped and strangled. Next was teenager Diane Cho who was killed in her home outside Richmond in November. Susan Tucker joined Spencer's list of victims the next month when she was found, like the others, raped and strangled in her Arlington home.

Spencer was linked scientifically to three of the five murders, though her certainly committed them all, and earned a death sentence in 1988. He was executed on April 27, 1994.