Robert Franklin Smallwood Jr., 32, is charged with crimes spanning 13 years and linked by DNA. Smallwood has been in prison on another charge since July. Police announced in August that they had linked the three slayings but said they had not linked the DNA evidence to a specific killer. Police would not specify yesterday how they linked Smallwood's DNA to the crimes, but indicated it happened in the past few days.

The victims -- Doris Ann Roberts, Sonora Lynn Allen and Erica C. Butler -- were killed over a span of seven years, beginning with Roberts in 1999. Butler was slain in April.

Police also announced yesterday that DNA linked Smallwood to the previously unsolved 1993 rape of Viola J. Greene, 83, a retired schoolteacher who died in 1998 of natural causes.

Roberts was found dead in her East Fourth Street apartment, apparently from strangulation and suffocation, according to the Fayette County coroner's office. Allen also died of strangulation and was found dumped in a Fortune Drive parking lot. Butler appeared to die of injuries caused by blunt trauma; she was found inside her home on Kenton Street.

Previously, authorities had said the three murder victims led "a high-risk lifestyle" but declined to elaborate then and again yesterday. The women accrued a mix of drug and alcohol charges, and Butler had prostitution charges, according to court records and interviews.

Smallwood was later indicted for the 1998 rape and sodomy of another Lexington woman, but was found not guilty by a jury, according to court records.

A month ago, police announced that DNA evidence found at the crime scene of the three homicides pointed to the same man, possibly Lexington's first serial killer. However, at the time, they did not know that person's identity. Police had sought profiler assistance from the FBI. Authorities distributed a composite sketch and held a press conference.

Curless and Chief Anthany Beatty declined to discuss how Smallwood's DNA was matched to the crimes or when he was identified as the suspect. They declined to discuss many details of the investigation, saying the cases against Smallwood were still considered open.

DNA information for violent crimes and sex crimes is entered into a database to compare with cold cases, said Whitney Collins, a DNA casework supervisor at the state crime lab, who spoke at the press conference. She also didn't say how the rape and murders were linked, but said the connection was made during "routine casework."

Beatty hailed the Kentucky State Police crime lab and its growing DNA database. He said most states require all of their felons to submit DNA samples. Kentucky requires DNA collection for those who commit sex offenses and some violent crimes, but not all felons.

"I think it's time Kentucky take a look at making a law that felons as well as registered sex offenders submit their DNA to a database to assist in these types of investigations."

In 2003, DNA helped police charge Dennis Ray Bullens with the rape and murder of Carla Gill. Bullens was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.

Leroy Allen, 57, of Lexington, said recent events and media attention have drained the family emotionally and physically. But they are looking forward to closing this chapter of their lives.

"We're just glad we got some closure behind us, and I'm glad they caught him before he killed somebody else," Allen said. "It's pretty hard on the young kids."

"It's crazy. Somebody you never suspect would do something like that. The kind of person he is, you never think he'd start killing people," Lane said.

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