Boston serial rape suspect faces new charges of rape and assault

The New Jersey lawyer accused of a series of sexual assaults in Boston more than a decade ago was indicted Tuesday on new charges of rape and assault, authorities said.

Matthew Nilo, 35, was indicted on seven additional counts — of rape, aggravated rape, assault with intent to rape and indecent assault and battery — related to a series of attacks that authorities say occurred from January 2007 to July 2008, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a news release.

The new charges are linked to five attacks on four women in the North End neighborhood of Boston — where Nilo used to live — in January and July of 2007 and 2008, according to the district attorney’s office, which added that one of the victims was attacked twice, 11 days apart.

“The victims were attacked while they were walking alone, in the dark, either at night or early in the morning,” according to the district attorney's office.

Hayden said DNA evidence played a role in the new indictments, but he did not elaborate, adding that more information will be released at his arraignment. It was not immediately clear when Nilo’s arraignment was scheduled for. A spokesperson for the DA's office did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday.

Nilo was arrested last month outside his Weehawken, New Jersey, residence on three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery in connection with incidents in the area of Terminal Street in the Charlestown neighborhood in August and November 2007 and August and December 2008, Boston police said at the time.

Nilo’s former attorney, Jeff Garrigan, said at the time that Nilo was “looking forward to fighting these charges and showing that he’s innocent.” Garrigan told NBC News he is no longer representing Nilo.

Nilo could not be reached for comment Wednesday at phone numbers publicly listed under his name.

Nilo waived extradition in New Jersey on June 1 and was arraigned June 5 on the initial charges in Suffolk County Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty. He was released June 15 after he posted $500,000 cash bail, the district attorney's office said.

Authorities said investigative genetic genealogy — which has been used to identify several victims and suspects in recent years — helped them crack the case after they reopened it last year.

Investigators placed Nilo under surveillance this year and obtained his DNA profile from "various utensils and drinking glasses" they saw him use at a corporate event, the DA's office has said.

His DNA profile matched that of the person who committed the initial Charlestown rapes that Nilo wound up being arrested in connection with, the district attorney's office said at the time of his arrest. And further testing showed that DNA taken from a glove the victim in the December 2008 assault used to poke the attacker in the eye was 314 times more likely to be that of Nilo than of any other man in the population, the office said.

After Nilo was arrested, Joseph Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office, described him as an “accused serial rapist and kidnapper" and said four victims had been waiting to learn the identity of their attacker for years.

Authorities also asked anyone else who thought they were victims or had information to contact Boston police or the FBI.

After 2008, Nilo also lived in Wisconsin, California and New York, Bonavolonta said.

Cowbell, a company that advertises cyber insurance, hired Nilo in January after he passed a background check, but it has since suspended him, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Nilo is next due in court for a pretrial conference July 13, the district attorney's office said. He could face up to life in prison if he is convicted.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help. Confidential chats are available in English and in Spanish.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com