UTICA -- Utica Police have released new details on the death of motel owner Linda Turner.
Turner's body was found last week at the Davis Motel on Herkimer Road in North Utica, where she lived. Wednesday, officers announced Turner was strangled to death. They say there is also evidence that Turner was sexually abused.
Utica Police Chief Mark Williams tells local media outlets that investigators believe 45-year-old convicted serial rapist Robert Blainey broke into an empty room at the motel. Williams says Blainey then attacked the 68-year-old Turner on the night of November 2. Her body was found the next day.
Investigators say they anticipate charging Blainey with murder, robbery, and rape in the case. Right now, Blainey is not facing charges, but is being held without bail in the Oneida County Jail on a parole violation.
Blainey was the subject of a manhunt in the Utica area after he stopped reporting to his parole officer. He was arrested Monday night in Pennsylvania driving Linda Turner's car.
Blainey was first convicted of attempted rape in 1984 for forcing himself on an eight-year-old girl. Four years later, while on parole, he was again arrested and convicted of raping two women in Madison County. He was released from prison in 2009 and put on parole.
The homicide case is being forwarded to a grand jury.
Police have also released a new mugshot of Blainey, which looks drastically different than the mugshot released during the search.
