Timothy Spencer, also known as the "Southside Strangler," raped, burglarized, and murdered several women between 1984 and 1987 in Northern and Central Virginia. He was a spree killer that committed most of his crimes over the course of 11 weeks in 1987. No victim survived to identify him, no fingerprints were found, and no one confessed. The DNA tests used linked semen from the crime scenes with his blood. This was the first test of its kind in the United States. Until 1987, no murderer had ever been convicted of a crime based on crime scene DNA.
