A man in California who tried to blame his twin brother for the historical rapes of a nine-year-old girl and a jogger has been sentenced to 140 years in prison.
Kevin Konther, 58, was convicted back in February of two counts of rape and multiple other charges, one of which involved the sexual assault of a 12-year-old victim, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Police arrested Konther, and his twin brother, in 2019 after DNA technology connected them to the 1995 rape of a nine-year-old girl who was walking home after buying school supplies, and another in 1998 of a 32-year-old jogger.
Konther grabbed the runner and covered her mouth after jumping out of the bushes wearing nothing but a pair of shoes, the attorney’s office said.
The twins were both arrested as they share the same DNA, but recorded conversations between the pair revealed “multiple incriminating statements made by Konther, including admissions that he carried out the crimes,” according to the attorney’s office.
A judge on Monday sentenced Konther to 140 years to life in prison, prosecutors said, while his twin brother has not been charged.
“DNA was the lynchpin that gave that monster a name – and that name is Kevin Konther,” Todd Spitzer, a lawyer in the county, said.
“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.”
