UTICA -- Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara says the case against Robert Blainey will be presented to a grand jury most likely in the beginning of December.
McNamara tells CNYcentral, he intends to ask the grand jury to consider charging Blainey with 1st degree Murder, 1st degree Rape, 1st degree Robbery & Burglary related to the death of Linda Turner, a Utica motel owner.
"You have an innocent victim," says McNamara. "Unfortunately, a lot of times in our cases, we have victims that are involved in maybe drug trafficking or other types of criminal behavior. In this case, you have a 68-year-old lady who's trying to make an honest living, and she becomes a victim of a very heinous crime."
Blainey is currently being held without bail on a parole violation charge. McNamara says there is no chance Blainey will be back on the streets before the case is taken to a grand jury.
When Blainey was taken into custody, he looked dramatically different from the pictures that were released during the search for him.
The New York State Parole Division keeps a picture of a parolee upon his release from prison. In Blainey's case, that was two years ago. Then, its up to local police departments to take new photos every year.
Sgt. Steve Hauck, of the Utica Police Department, says the last picture taken by the UPD was taken in May of 2011. He says it looks very similar to the one that was taken upon his release two years ago. At the time of the search, a more recent photo of Blainey was also released. Police received that image through the investigation. It was taken about six weeks ago.
Sgt. Hauck believes the UPD did everything possible to give the public the most accurate image of Blainey it could, but he says this could be a reminder that people can dramatically change their appearance when they're trying to hide their identities.
