In the 1980s a man began a brutal trend of raping women in the sanctity of their homes. After decades of evading justice, the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) Cold Case Unit identified the man known as the Pillowcase Rapist in several BSO sexual assault cases. That individual who has been identified as Robert Koehler will now answer for his crimes.
In the latest episode of Shop Talk with the Sheriff, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony spoke with Sergeant Kami Floyd who was instrumental in solving these cases.
Sergeant Floyd has been in law enforcement serving the community for 20 years. In 2019 she took the initiative and began painstakingly digging through thousands of sexual assault cases, including the Pillowcase Rapist case.
“We would check out, probably about ten boxes at a time and take them home with us, and you know, you’ll be sitting at the dinner table with your kids as they are doing their homework and you’re sitting there reading cases,” Floyd said. “There was a lot of reading and going through these and looking at pictures and see if we can match anything to the Pillowcase Rapist.”
After countless weeks of arduous work, their determination paid off. “Luckily our DNA Manager, Karin Crenshaw, was able to locate specimens from that same case that were collected back in the eighties and that were preserved in the freezer in their evidence. We were able to use those to test and we had a positive match on our suspect, Robert Koehler,” Floyd said.
Working these cases takes a village says Sergeant Floyd, and as they work, there’s one motivator: the victims. “For me solving the cases that helps me through it. My commitment to solving it and having the success and seeing the relief on the victim’s face. Some of the children that I’ve had over the years, at the end of interviewing them and they found out the suspect has been arrested…the relief that just goes through their body. They give you a real big hug and you feel ‘You know, I did my job today,’ I can go home and know that someone is going to live a better life in the future and because of that, it keeps you going,” Floyd said.
 Cold Case Unit identified the man known as the Pillowcase Rapist in){kind=link}