BOSTON — The New Jersey man suspected in a series of sexual assaults that took place in Boston about 15 years ago was released on bail Thursday.
Matthew Nilo was released Thursday afternoon and fitted for a GPS ankle bracelet after posting the $500,000 cash bail, according to a Suffolk Superior Court official. a woman named Laura Griffin posted Nilo’s bail.
The 35-year-old attorney was arrested in Weehawken, New Jersey last month and was brought to Massachusetts at the beginning of June. Nilo’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, informed the court on Monday of his clients’s intentions of posting bail.
Originally from Boston, Nilo is charged with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and single counts of assault with attempt to rape and indecent assault and battery in connection with the assaults in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood in 2007 and 2008.
During the early morning hours of Aug. 18, 2007, a 23-year-old victim was looking for her car after a night out with friends in the area of State Street when she was approached by a man in his 20s, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum said in reading from court documents.
After the assault, the victim sought help from a passerby and she was taken to a local hospital, where she underwent a sexual evidence collection exam. Male DNA obtained during the test was entered into a national database.
Months later, on Nov. 22, 2007, a 23-year-old woman left a bar on State Street after attending her high school reunion and entered a vehicle that she thought was a taxi cab. She also described the driver as a man in his 20s.
This victim was also taken to a local hospital, where she underwent a sexual evidence collection exam. Male DNA obtained during the test was again entered into a national database.
On Aug. 5, 2008, a 36-year-old woman panhandling in the area of Boylston and Arlington streets near Boston Common was approached by a man in his 20s who promised to give her money if she went to Charlestown in his car. She too was taken to a local hospital, where she underwent a sexual evidence collection exam. Male DNA obtained during the test is said to have matched a profile from the two previous rapes.
On the morning of Dec. 23, 2008, a 44-year-old woman was jogging in the area of Terminal Street in Charlestown when a man ran up behind her, put his arms around her upper body, and tackled her to the ground. As part of a subsequent investigation, her glove was taken as evidence but no forensic link was established at the time.
Nilo was identified as a suspect with the help of forensic genetic genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with publicly accessible genealogy research and historical records, authorities have said. Nilo was then placed under surveillance in 2023 while he lived in New Jersey and worked at a law firm in New York City.
[ Prosecutor: DNA lifted from drinking glass linked attorney to string of violent rapes in Boston ]
The glove that the December 2008 assault victim used to poke her attacker’s eyes was sent to a private lab for testing and it was determined that the DNA profile was “314 times more likely to belong to Milo than any other male in the population,” authorities said.
Nilo was living in Boston at the time of the alleged assaults and attending college after graduating from Boston Latin School.
Nilo has also lived in Wisconsin, California, and New York, where investigations are also underway. He moved back to the East Coast in 2019 and had been working for a cyber insurance firm, which suspended his employment.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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