CINCINNATI (Scripps News Cincinnati) — An alleged cold case serial rapist faces more charges – some dating as far back as the 1980s.
William Blankenship was arrested in February 2020 on charges related to three rape cases in Hamilton County. Investigators found him using DNA evidence and a genealogy website.
New charges from an indictment in Campbell County list six new victims and a total of 26 additional charges including rape, sodomy and burglary, dating back decades from 1987 to 2000.
William Blankenship was arrested in February 2020 on charges related to three rape cases in Hamilton County. Investigators found him using DNA evidence and a genealogy website. New charges from an indictment in Campbell County list six new victims and a total of 26 additional charges. (WCPO)
“It’s crazy to read that about someone you knew so well,” William Blankenship’s nephew Brad told WCPO. “He must have been doing that for decades. While I was a kid. Around me and my sister.”
Brad Blankenship has distanced himself from his Northern Kentucky family and now lives out of the area.
“I’ve always known him to be a violent, unpredictable person,” Brad Blankenship said of his uncle William. “My family always told me that he had anger problems – things like that. You don’t expect this. Crimes against children, that’s horrendous.”
Local psychologist Dr. Ken Manges said he worries the number of victims could be more than the 10 listed in the two indictments.
“Looking at the numbers, and the small amount of time between those events, it seems as though it escalated for him,” Manges said. “It wouldn’t be uncommon that we haven’t filled in some of the missing dates yet.”
Blankenship is being held on a $1.5 million bond in Hamilton County. He faces 11 counts including four rape charges and two kidnapping charges.
“I just think he needs to confess,” Brad Blankenship said. “He needs to confess and not go through the whole circus of a trial. The evidence is so insurmountable at this point.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2021, by WCPO in Cincinnati.
