By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DNA collected from a discarded cigarette butt led police to a man they say is responsible for 10 years of brutal attacks on elderly women living in Pleasant Ridge, Golf Manor and Roselawn, a Cincinnati Police officer says.

Sgt. Ken Wells' comments came as Timothy Ferguson's trial started Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Ferguson, 44, of Pleasant Ridge, is facing 21 charges of rape, attempted rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery relating to six women between the ages of 63 and 86. Two were his neighbors.

Hamilton County Prosecutor James Butler detailed the rapes during opening statements. He said the women were elderly, had their homes broken into when they were alone, were molested, and that the attacker stole money before running off.

Ferguson's attorney, Rhett Baker, didn't deny the crimes happened. He told the jury police arrested the wrong man.

The case against Ferguson dates to March 15, 1993, when a Golf Manor woman was raped, Butler said.

The case remained open. Five years later, when a similar rape happened in the same neighborhood, officers used DNA to determine the same man was responsible for each attack.

Two more rapes followed in 1998, another in 2001 and then two more in 2002, according to court records.

While out looking for a suspect, Wells talked with Ferguson about sports and the neighborhood. Knowing that Ferguson matched the description of the suspect, Wells scooped up a cigarette butt Ferguson discarded while they talked.

"It was a 100 percent match with the suspect who raped (the women)," Wells said.

A second DNA test, which Ferguson was ordered to submit to by a search warrant, was also a 100 percent match, Wells added.

Baker called the DNA testing flawed, saying he would prove during the trial the tests are not consistent with guidelines at the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, where the testing was done.

Ferguson was arrested April 16 and charged eight days later, according to court documents.

He is being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center on $500,000 bond.

Baker says Ferguson had an alibi for the time of the last rape, on Nov. 2, 2002. Ferguson went to dinner with a nephew and then went to a bar until the early morning of the following day.

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E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com