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Kevin Michael Konther was sentenced to 140 years in prison for raping a 9-year-old girl, raping a jogger, and sexually abusing his ex-girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter in separate incidents. (Mug shot: Orange County District Attorney’s Office)
A convicted rapist whose attorney tried to put the crimes on his twin brother received the maximum sentence on Friday for sexually assaulting three victims decades ago in California.
In separate incidents, Kevin Michael Konther, 58, raped a 9-year-old girl, raped a 32-year-old jogger, and sexually abused his ex-girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter, authorities said.
The crimes went unsolved for years, but prosecutors said that sheriff’s office investigators started using 2018 genetic genealogy to zero in on a culprit. That perpetrator, they said, is Konther.
“DNA was the lynchpin that gave that monster a name — and that name is Kevin Konther,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “The relentless pursuit of justice by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has ensured that another monster who preys on young girls and young women will never be free to jump out of the bushes again.”
Konther received the maximum sentence of 140 years in prison. Jurors convicted him in February of two counts of forcible rape, two counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of a forcible lewd act upon a child, and one count of a lewd and lascivious act with a minor.
“The jury also found true the allegations that he kidnapped both rape victims and committed each of the charged offenses against multiple victims,” they wrote.
Authorities initially arrested him and his twin brother, though they eventually released the sibling and never charged the man.
At trial, defendant Konther’s attorney argued that the defendant took the blame on the sibling’s behalf. But prosecutors said that a recorded call between siblings showed that Kevin Konther made an incriminating statement while the brother was shocked at the arrest.
The defendant described having a “chemical imbalance in my brain” and that “I’ve been fighting that demon for a long time. I just hate women. That’s my problem,” according to The Orange County Register.
He reportedly described having “serious issues” that he had to pay for.
“On October 21, 1995, Konther raped a 9-year-old girl walking home by herself after buying school supplies in Lake Forest,” prosecutors wrote. “He grabbed the girl, covered her mouth while pulling her down an embankment and into a secluded wooded park. Konther told the girl not to scream and said he had a knife.”
In another crime, Konther assailed a 32-year-old jogger on June 2, 1998.
“Konther — naked except for wearing a pair of shoes — jumped out of the bushes, grabbed the woman and covered her mouth, telling her not to scream and that he was going to rape her,” they wrote.
Sheriff’s investigators started using genetic genealogy in 2018 to develop leads on the suspect, and they turned up allegations that Konther also sexually abused an ex-girlfriend’s daughter.
