Where is Serial Killer and ‘The Bike Path Rapist’ “Altemio Sanchez” Now? – Altemio C. Sanchez is a Puerto Rican serial killer who was suspected of raping and killing at least three women, as well as at least nine to fifteen girls and women in and around Buffalo, New York, during the course of a 31-year period from 1975, though it’s possible that he started even earlier, to 2006. Bike Path Rapist and Bike Path Killer are other names for Sanchez.
“Murder by Numbers: You Could Be Next,” an episode on Investigation Discovery, tells the story of the Puerto Rican serial killer Altemio C. Sanchez Jr. We’ve got your back if you want to find out more information on the case. What about Altemio Sanchez? Let’s investigate.
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Who Is Altemio Sanchez?
Altemio C. Sanchez Jr. was born on January 18, 1958, in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, to parents Altemio Sanchez and Lucy Caraballo. Lucy immigrated to the US with her son when he was just two years old after discovering Altemio Sr. having an affair with a prostitute. Before relocating to North Collins in New York, south of Buffalo, they briefly resided in Miami.
Altemio experienced sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his mother’s lover when he was a child. He saw his mother being physically and verbally assaulted by the same person. His mother also used to assault him physically, and she had a drinking problem. Altemio discovered in 1974, when he was a junior in high school, that his mother had attempted to end his life by taking too many drugs while carrying him. Altemio, who was obviously shattered, started having blackouts, and his connection with the female sex went downhill from there.
He allegedly started preying on women a year later; the first claimed attack dates back to 1975. After graduating from Grover Cleveland High School in 1977, he was accepted into the Industrial Arts department at Buffalo State College. While still residing with his mother in 1977, Altemio attacked and molested a female cyclist in his second crime. He met Kathleen Whitley in 1978 while attending the institution, and the two were married on July 5, 1980. Christopher, the couple’s first son, was born in October 1981, and Michael, their second son, was born less than a year later. In 1983, he started working at American Brass.
Over the years, Altemio continued his serial rape campaign and amassed over ten victims. However, on September 29, 1990, the then 32-year-old killed his first person; the victim was a sophomore studying communications at the University of Buffalo who was 22 years old. As she trained for the New York City Marathon, Linda Yalem was jogging along the Ellicott Creek Bike Path when Altemio raped and killed her. A day later, her body was located.
In October 1990, Amherst police put up surveillance on Altemio’s residence after one of his coworkers, Bob McGuire, reported seeing Altemio at least twice on the Ellicott Creek Bike Path in the previous 14 months. Altemio agreed to a police interview in December 1991 and was given his freedom after they obtained his fingerprints. After attempting to pick up an undercover police officer, he was eventually detained for the first time in May 1991 on solicitation-related charges.
On October 30, 1992, Altemio killed a 32-year-old sex worker called Majane Mazur after sexually assaulting her. This was his second murder. This murder was different from his usual method because Majane was slain off-road, not on a bike path, in downtown Buffalo, which eventually earned him the moniker “The Bike Path Rapist.” Altemio allegedly had no intention of killing her but felt compelled to do so when he realised she had seen his face. He committed his final rape in 1994, or at least the last that could be linked to him.
Altemio, who was 48 at the time, beat and killed Joan Diver on the Clarence Bike Path on September 29, 2006. She was a nurse and the spouse of a University of Buffalo chemistry professor. She was going to be Altemio’s final victim after Bike Path Task Force members stole a straw, dish, and linen napkin from his and his wife’s table at the Sole Restaurant in January 2007. According to laboratory findings, his DNA sample matched the DNA profile found in a sweat droplet recovered from Joan’s automobile.
Where is Serial Killer Altemio Sanchez Now?
On January 15, 2007, Altemio was taken into jail and arrested after a protracted, nearly 10-hour interrogation. He was charged with killing Linda, Majane, and Joan four days later. In May 2007, he admitted to killing all three victims in front of a grand jury. Subsequently, New York had a statute of limitations on rape prosecutions that had since been amended, and he could not be charged with the claimed 14 rapes that he had committed.
In August 2007, he was sentenced to 75 years in jail after being found guilty on all three counts, although there was no statute of limitations for murder. He was legally separated from his wife in October 2007. He is currently mid-sixty-year sentence and serving in a jail cell in the Clinton Correctional Facility in the Village of Dannemora, New York, according to his inmate records.
