Photo: Douglas Sacha / Moment / Getty Images
Miami-Dade, FL - A South Florida man known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman more than 40 years ago in Miami-Dade County.
Robert Koehler, 66, was convicted on charges of sexual battery, kidnapping, and burglary for an alleged 1984 attack on a 25-year-old woman inside her southwest Miami-Dade townhouse.
Prosecutors said the victim awoke in the middle of the night to find a man threatening her with a knife before covering her head with a piece of fabric and assaulting her.
The case went unsolved for decades until a 2020 DNA match linked Koehler to the crime.
Investigators said Koehler earned his nickname because he allegedly covered his victims’ faces with pillowcases or other materials during a series of home invasions across South Florida in the 1980s.
Authorities believe he could be connected to multiple similar assaults that followed the same pattern of break-ins and threats with weapons.
During the trial, Koehler pleaded not guilty, and his attorney argued that the DNA evidence did not conclusively prove his client’s involvement.
After a four-day trial, jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes before reaching a guilty verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for November 24.
Koehler is already serving a 17-year prison sentence for another 1980s rape conviction in Miami-Dade and was previously convicted of a separate rape case in Palm Beach County in 1990.
He has been a registered sex offender since 1991.