Foresight saved "Ether Man" rape case

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The Bernalillo county district attorneys office says it could be years before the man suspected of being a serial rapist dubbed Ether Man comes back to New Mexico to face charges, but the charges will be waiting.

But thanks to the creative thinking of Albuquerque Police Department detectives, the 44 counts against him will stand despite a 10-year statute of limitations on rape.

Robert Bruce, 47, who was arrested in Colorado early last month after allegedly trying to blow up a police officer's home, has been linked to the Ether Man rapes through DNA matches, according to police.

The rapes of 11 women in Albuquerque took place between 1991 and 2000, and a 12th woman who was attacked got away before a rape could occur.

While APD didn't have a named suspect in 2000, based on the DNA evidence prosecutors sought and won and indictment under the named John Doe.

That had never been done before in New Mexico, according to Pat Davis, spokesman for the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office.

The detectives who knew their first case from 1991 was coming up on the statute of limitations felt letting the case expire was unacceptable, Davis added. So they took a chance seeing if the grand jury would indict a profile not yet attached to a name, which it did.

Davis said in the nine years since the indictment this practice has been used many times, and the law has been made clear to allow it.

Had the detectives not gotten an indictment on these 12 cases when they did all but one would have expired, Davis said.

"And there would be no justice for these victims," he added.