SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A Chico connection to a high-profile trial that is now underway.
The so-called NorCal rapist, 60-year-old Roy Waller, is accused in a series of rapes in six Northern California counties, over a 15 year period. Waller worked for the University of California for 25 years and was arrested by the Sacramento Police Department two years ago.
Prosecutors said he terrorized nine women over a 15-year period between 1991 and 2006. The district attorney's office said Waller attacked women in Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Butte, Sonoma, and Contra Costa counties, according to KCRA.
In 1997, a Chico rape victim stabbed him with a pair of scissors. That allowed police to collect DNA evidence, linking him to the crimes.
Waller is facing 46 counts — including numerous rape, sexual assault, sodomy and kidnap charges.
If convicted, Waller could be sentenced to life in prison.
Monday's trial began with only three jurors in the jury box and others spaced out in the first few rows of the courtroom for social distancing purposes.
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