Has the Kennedy Wheeler investigation siphoned too much attention from the city’s other sexual assault cases?

Many residents of the Linden area — where a serial rapist has attacked 19 women in the past 10 years — seem to think so. At a Tuesday town hall meeting held by the Columbus Division of Police, the community was updated on the status of the Linden investigation and given a forum to express their concerns.

“In light of the fact that we have a suspect in the campus and North Side rape series, we wanted to bring the Linden rapes back to the forefront and make sure residents know that the two series of rapes are different,” said Columbus police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio.

Despite Mercurio’s assurances that investigators are taking the Linden case seriously, many residents used the question-and-answer session that concluded the meeting to express resentment toward Columbus police and local media.

“Why is it that a bunch of rapes had to happen on campus before anyone paid attention to what has been happening in Linden?” asked resident Antoinette Savage.

Mercurio said Linden has received as much attention from Columbus police as the University District and North Side, but the media has not chosen to publicize those efforts as heavily.

“We can’t control what the media chooses to focus on,” she said.

Many who attended the meeting remained unconvinced, heckling Mercurio as she outlined efforts undertaken by Columbus police to warn members of the community.

Some long-time residents complained they had never heard of the Linden rapes prior to the sexual assaults that occurred in the campus area, even though the Linden series began in 1992.

Lt. Michael Springer said residents must meet the Columbus police halfway. Officers can help to initiate block watches and organize community meetings, but the system will fail if residents don’t keep in touch with police and with each other — something that often happens when an attacker waits for a long period of time between attacks, Springer said.

The rapist in the Linden case has waited as long as several years between assaults, said John Weeks the lead detective in the case.

Weeks described the Linden rapist as a black male, approximately six feet tall, between 180-200 pounds and approximately 30 years of age. He is clean-shaven, right-handed, possesses a muscular build and may smoke cigarettes.

The rapist seeks unsecured doors and windows to gain access to his victims. All but one attack occurred at night, mostly in the area bounded by Hudson Avenue, Interstate 71, Oakland Park Avenue and Cleveland Avenue. Ten of the 19 Linden cases have been linked to the same perpetrator through DNA evidence, while the rest have been linked through other physical and circumstantial evidence.

Police have ruled-out the serial rapist responsible for attacks in the University District and the North Side, as DNA evidence collected from those areas does not match that of the Linden cases.

Representatives from Crimestoppers and the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio, provided tips for victims and witnesses of sexual assault.

Most of those in attendance stayed until the end of the meeting, despite tension during the question-and-answer phase. While resentment toward the University District was palpable, some community members were grateful for the dialogue the Wheeler arrest has sparked across the city.

“Some wheels get a little more grease than others,” said Linden resident Norma Allen as the meeting drew to a close. “But if it took OSU to bring this issue to a head, then I’m glad the press jumped on it like they did.”