On the Record

By: jackie.sauter

Just before Baltimore County Judge Dana M. Levitz sentenced Alphonso W. Hill on Wednesday for eight rapes committed between 1978 and 1989, Levitz paused to give special thanks to a man he called a “visionary.”

Levitz thought Dr. Rudiger Breitenecker was not in his courtroom, but prosecutors and audience members, including seven of Hill’s victims, quickly pointed out the semi-retired forensic pathologist.

Then they applauded him.

“If it weren’t for him, Mr. Hill would be on the street,” Levitz said.

That’s because Hill was connected to the eight rapes through DNA evidence that was only available because Breitenecker, who worked at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, saved it even before DNA testing was possible.

Breitenecker was the founding director in 1975 of GBMC’s Rape Care Center, now known as the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) Program. All sexual assault victims in Baltimore County are now treated at the program.

Breitenecker said Wednesday he kept the physical evidence because it was the “only link” between a crime and the person who committed it.

“Once you save evidence, you don’t like to get rid of it,” said Breitenecker, who headed the center until 1997 and was part of GBMC’s pathology department from 1967 until 1998.

Based on the saved evidence and Hill’s DNA, prosecutors have said the odds of black man other than Hill being the attacker are more than 1 in one quadrillion. Scott D. Shellenberger, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney, said his office has solved 51 cases because of Breitenecker’s work. GBMC said the pathologist has participated in more than 2,000 cases.

Breitenecker was pleased the evidence he saved helped in Hill’s cases.

“It’s very satisfying,” he said.

DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer