Bardstown Police make arrest in 11-year-old nursing home rape case

STAFF REPORT

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, 11:55 p.m. — Bardstown Police have filed charges in an 11-year-old rape case after DNA evidence allegedly linked a man in the Marion County jail with the July 2000 sexual assault at a Bardstown nursing home.

Michael Joseph Marino, 48, was charged with first-degree rape of a resident of the former Federal Hill Manor Nursing Home. The victim was 78 at the time of the incident and is now deceased, police said.

During the investigation of the incident at the time, the victim gave police a detailed description of the attacker, who entered the facility by forcing his way through a window. At the time, Bardstown Police Detective Barbara Roby and former Detective Jerry Nevitt investigated the crime but were unsuccessful in moving the case forward.

While working an unrelated burglary in 2008, former Bardstown Police Officer Will Strunk provided Roby with information about a suspect in the burglary who was a close match of the description of the perpetrator of the nursing home sexual assault. On Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, DNA testing matched Marino’s DNA to samples collected from the nursing home crime scene. A search warrant was obtained for a blood sample, and Marino was arrested Wednesday,  Jan. 25, 2012 – the day he was scheduled for release on federal charges from the Marion County Detention Center — and he was lodged in the Nelson County Jail.

The press release states that the police department does pursue old cases and will follow up on leads, even when the victim is no longer living.

The investigation is continuing, and individuals with information on this incident are urged to contact Bardstown Police at 348-6811.

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