DNA testing links St. Paul man to three rapes since 2023

An 18-year-old St. Paul man already charged with sexual assault is facing new charges after DNA testing by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday charged Rakai Eugene Davis with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with sexual assaults that occurred in May 2023 and last November.

Davis was previously charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with a sexual assault on Dec. 9. All three assaults happened in the Prosperity Heights neighborhood of St. Paul’s East Side.

Davis remains at large and is considered “a high risk to public safety, St. Paul police said.

According to police, a woman told officers on Nov. 3 that she had been raped at gunpoint in a garage by a man who called himself “Michael.”

The woman said she met her assailant after he called her, claiming he had gotten her phone number from a dating site.

“He was saying all the right things and appeared to be a good person,” she said.

The woman said that when they met at a house in the 1700 block of Clear Avenue, he hit her on the head with a handgun and assaulted her.

Authorities said they collected Davis’s DNA with a search warrant executed at the house after another sexual assault that occurred there on Dec. 9.

The victim of the December attack told police that a man, later identified as Davis, took her behind a garage in an alley and raped her. Police confirmed that account by reviewing security footage; they also seized a Glock handgun from the property.

Authorities said they linked Davis’ DNA to the rape of a third woman in 2023 when he was 16 years old. That victim told St. Paul police that she had talked to him on a dating app and agreed to meet on White Bear Avenue. She said they moved around the corner to Cottage Avenue, where the man raped her at knifepoint.

St. Paul police urged anyone with information on Davis’ whereabouts to call 651-291-1111. Investigators said they believe there may be more victims and encouraged anyone with information to contact the Sex Crimes Unit at 651-266-5685.