CLAY COUNTY – From 1989 through 1990, a string of burglaries and sexual batteries occurred along Wells Road in Orange Park. Some in the community referred to the perpetrator as the Wells Road Rapist.

He had a precise method of operation. He chose single women who lived alone, women who connected to the Navy somehow, or women who lived in ground-floor apartments. He struck in the early morning while wearing a waist-length black jacket, ski mask and gloves. He used tape to secure the victim’s hands and carried a flashlight, a knife and a gun.

 The attacker engaged in extensive conversation with his victims and, most chillingly of all, told them that he had been watching them for a long time. The victims recalled, as best they could, a white male suspect in his 30s and about 5-foot-5. They described him as talkative and remembered that he asked them very personal questions. They said the attacker seemed to know about the Navy.

On Jan. 15, 1990, the attacker was caught attempting to burglarize the ground floor apartment of a victim we’ll refer to here as Jane. Clay County Sheriff’s Office Deputy C.J. Snyder responded, gave chase and caught the suspect, whose car was in the apartment complex’s parking lot. As he ran, the suspect threw his gloves into the vehicle. An inventory later revealed screwdrivers (doors to the last residence had pry marks), a roll of tape, gloves and a black jacket.

The suspect’s name was Miguel Angel Vargas. He worked for Lockheed at nearby Cecil Field. The 32-year-old lived on Pine Hill Lane, just a few miles from Wells Road. He was married with children. Once in custody, Vargas was crying and saying the Lord’s Prayer. He told police he had been in a psychiatric ward for a month.

When a detective asked him, “Did you do it?” Vargas answered, “I can’t remember.” He repeated that during questioning.

“I wish I could remember so I could repent,” he said. He never said he didn’t do it, just that he couldn’t remember if he did it. Vargas was arrested for attempted burglary and prowling but made bond. In the meantime, the detectives worked to get a warrant that would allow them to take a sample of the defendant’s blood. They wanted to test his to see if the DNA left at scenes matched Vargas’. Since his victims could not specifically identify him by face (due to the mask), the DNA match was crucial to making the case.

In 1990, DNA was a new science used to solve crimes, but questionable as evidence in Court. Back then, most criminals did not know about DNA, and some police didn’t. The FBI’s statistical analysis of the DNA database back then was minuscule compared to what it contains today. Three decades ago, when these attacks occurred, the FBI’s database held genetic profiles of Caucasians, Blacks, Hispanics and a few other ethnic groups. It did not have DNA from suspects of Puerto Rican descent, which was Vargas’ ethnicity. What were the investigators to do?

Here is how DNA statistical analysis works. (Source – National Institute of Justice): “The general procedure includes 1) the isolation of the DNA from an evidence sample containing DNA of unknown origin, and generally at a later time, the isolation of DNA from a sample (e.g., blood) from a known individual; 2) the processing of the DNA so that test results may be obtained; 3) the determination of the variations in the DNA test results (or types), from specific regions of the DNA; and 4) the comparison and interpretation of the test results from the unknown and known samples to determine whether the known individual is not the source of the DNA or is included as a possible source of the DNA. Regardless of age, any probative biological sample stored dry or frozen may be considered for DNA analysis.”

Additionally, population databases are used. These databases are generally defined by racial group and geographical region because alleles (alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome) may have different frequencies in different populations.

Thankfully, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) had just created its lab based on the FBI model and used the FBI’s database for its statistical analysis. Vargas’ DNA did match what was found at the recent crime scene. The numbers were not as impressive as some of today’s “one in four quadrillion,” but the results were good enough to make the case.

Vargas pleaded to 22-year and 15-year sentences to run concurrently. However, he reserved the right to appeal several issues. The two most important were 1) was DNA statistical analysis so novel as unreliable and not accepted by the scientific community? (If the 1st District Court of Appeals thought so, the statistical portion of the DNA evidence would be out, and Vargas might walk free), and 2) even more troubling, was the search warrant for the blood adequately executed? If not, the DNA analysis wasn’t even an issue. All the DNA would be tossed out. No blood, no DNA, no identification, no case.

The 1st DCA ruled that the DNA statistical analysis was “not generally accepted in the relevant scientific community” and “therefore the population frequencies are not admissible.” Remember, at that time, the FBI database had no samples from Puerto Rican suspects in it. So

out went that part of the DNA evidence. The Court suggested that if the State could find a better method to calculate population frequencies, then it would be admissible.

The State appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, and the State lost use of the DNA evidence in the Vargas case in its entirety. The issue was the search warrant. The detective worded the warrant so that a Duval County officer was needed to serve the warrant (for the blood sample) because Vargas lived in Duval. The Clay County detective picked up Vargas at Cecil Field and took him to a hospital in Duval County, where he read the warrant to Vargas and signed it. The detective waited outside the examination room. That meant the required Duval County officer never “executed” the warrant on Vargas and was not in the blood evidence chain of custody as required by law. The Court did not address the DNA issues once they tossed the blood evidence.

Today, it is often assumed that you must have DNA evidence in a case, or you’ve got no chance of a conviction (or so it is portrayed by the Hollywood CSI writers). DNA evidence is now universally accepted as the gold standard of proof. It’s a genetic fingerprint that is very hard to challenge in Court. DNA evidence is now used to convict the guilty and free the innocent daily in this country.

In 1996, Vargas was taken from prison and returned to Clay County. He pleaded to a five-year sentence with time served and was released, moving away from our area. In June 2020, a public records request was made to the local Clerk’s Office for the Vargas case records, giving us some idea of where the man lived. The request came from an employee at a background check company based in Ohio.

There is a big difference between how DNA evidence was viewed then and how it is viewed now. Technology has improved law enforcement training in evidence collection.

For more information about Clay County’s true crime history, please visit clayclerk.com (click the Historical Archives button). Criminal case records are available for research dating back a century or more at the Clay County Archives Center in Green Cove Springs. Call (904) 371-0027 so the archives staff can be ready to assist you.