One Oklahoma man has been given two life sentences for numerous charges of rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery for crimes committed over three decades ago.
A Rankin County grand jury indicted 66-year-old Daniel Ray Skaggs in April after evidence collected in the 1990s matched DNA collected from the suspect earlier this year.
According to officials, the case began on August 12, 1990, after “Jane” stopped to purchase several items at a Texaco on her way home from working in Flowood.
While traveling back to her residence in Brandon, a man emerged from the back of the van wielding a knife and forced Jane to the floorboard of her vehicle. The man then took Jane to a remote area and sexually assaulted her before rummaging through her belongings.
After the assailant left, Jane went to a nearby hospital and had a sexual assault examination performed.
Investigator Don Magee with the Brandon Police Department took up the case shortly after, later receiving a confession letter from a man named Rubin Weeks. Magee concluded that although Weeks’ story and evidence did not match police findings, he could not rule out the previously convicted felon as being the assailant.
The case went cold for nearly 15 years until Brandon PD Investigator David Ruth submitted a DNA sample from Weeks and that found in the sexual assault examination for a series of tests. Ruth ruled Weeks out as a suspect after two tests in 2005 and 2006.
One decade later, the Brandon Police Department was notified through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) of a DNA match to another crime that occurred in Memphis in 1990.
The DNA, which was uploaded to CODIS in 2016, came from a case where a woman named “Kim” experienced a similar incident 30 days after Jane reported the assault in Mississippi.
In the Memphis case, “Kim” left her job at the hospital, stopping at a gas station on her way home. Once back in her vehicle, a man emerged from the back seat with a knife to her neck. She was cut across the face and forced to the floorboard of her car before being taken to a secluded area and raped.
The assailant then drove Kim back to the interstate where he threatened, robbed, and abandoned her. Soon after, Kim was taken to the hospital by passing truckers where a sexual assault examination was performed.
Following the discovery, Ruth requested that Bode Technology — a private DNA Lab in Virginia that conducts investigative genetic genealogy — generate a lead for law enforcement. After a lengthy research process, Bode developed Daniel Ray Skaggs as a possible suspect.
In 2023, officials contacted Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations Agent Josh Dean and asked him to collect discarded trash from Skaggs’ residence. Dean sent several items, including a C-PAP mask and pill bottle, to Bode in order for a DNA profile to be created for Skaggs.
The company was able to develop a profile for the suspect and compared it to the unknown profile submitted in Jane’s case, finding that Skaggs’ DNA was an exact match. Skaggs was arrested shortly after and denied the allegations, but later claimed he had no memory of the time frame.
Once in custody in Mississippi, Deputy John Burt with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office collected a DNA sample directly from Skaggs.
The sample was sent to the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and compared to the 2006 DNA profile, with officials finding that Skaggs was an exact match as well.
Skaggs’ trial began on June 19, with the grand jury returning a verdict of guilty to rape and kidnapping several days later. Judge Dewey Arthur sentenced Skaggs to two consecutive life sentences as a violent habitual offender.
“Daniel Ray Skaggs is a serial rapist who has been a sexual predator since at least 1977,” District Attorney John Bramlett said. “I’m sure Skaggs thought he had gotten away with these crimes, but we didn’t stop working to get justice for these brave ladies. The science caught up with Daniel Ray Skaggs and as a result, he will spend his remaining years in prison.”
Bramlett added that officials believe other women were attacked by Skaggs in numerous states throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
“I want to encourage others that may have been attacked by Skaggs to come forward and contact their local law enforcement agency,” Bramlett stated. “We urge law enforcement agencies across the country with cold cases meeting these facts to process and upload any sexual assault kits. We believe there will be other victims of Mr. Skaggs who we would love to see have some closure.”
