Earlier this month, after a pre-trial hearing in which Ailes’ former attorney requested a bond reduction, stating the defendant has cancer, Spaeth lowered bond to $500,000.
Ailes, who was a construction worker in Oxford in 2006, was indicted by a Butler County grand jury for rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. All charges carry a gun specification, alleging a gun was used in the crimes.
The indictment came after a lengthy investigation by the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office using DNA genealogy tracing.
The assault occurred on Jan. 9, 2006, at an off-campus house, according to the indictment and Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser.
The suspect wore a mask, but his face was visible to the woman for a brief time and a sketch of the suspect was developed. His DNA also was found.
After forcing the woman to commit several sex acts, Ailes took $60 from her purse, Gmoser said during the arraignment.
In March 2006, a similar attack happened in Fayette County, Ind. DNA collected there matched the DNA in the Oxford case. However, there was no match to DNA entered in any law enforcement database.
Gmoser said Ailes wore a mask in the Indiana assault, but “didn’t speak a word” because the victim was known to him and his voice would have been recognizable.
The case went cold until following the DNA through genealogy pointed to the accused.
Gmoser said his office had been working for years with experts from Parabon NanoLabs to track down the suspect using genealogy DNA databases to piece together a family tree of the suspect.
On Friday, Ailes’ new attorney, David Washington, filed a motion for bond reduction to be reconsidered.
Washington said in addition to cancer, Ailes has had open heart surgery and has serious health conditions that cannot be treated in the Butler County Jail. He said Ailes has had multiple falls in the jail “causing significate injury.”
Gmoser said the prosecution opposed any bond modification due to the serious and violent offenses.
A hearing had not been scheduled Tuesday to consider the motion. Ailes’ trial is set for May 23.
Investigators were able to find the suspect’s father and then through unraveling a web of genealogy eventually found his mother. But the man did not know he had fathered the son and the mother didn’t know her husband was not the father, Gmoser said.
“As it turns out, the mother of this defendant was not aware that the father was someone other than her husband. She had a relationship outside of her marriage with the father of this defendant, later she have birth to the defendant and thought her then husband was the father,” Gmoser said. That is what made it so complicated.”
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