POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Advancements in DNA evidence led cold case detectives to arrest a suspect in a 2009 armed home invasion rape in Pompano Beach, Broward Sheriff’s Office officials announced Monday.
Wisler Marcellus, 63, was taken into custody on armed sexual battery and burglary charges late last month.
According to BSO, the crime happened at around 3:30 a.m. on June 19, 2009.
Deputies said Marcellus, then 47, “broke in through the window of an unoccupied bedroom” of a home while a 36-year-old woman and her children were inside sleeping, went into the woman’s bedroom and held a gun to her head before ordering her to stand up and then sexually assaulted her as her children slept.
He then took her purse, authorities said.
Deputies said the victim described Marcellus as a man with “a foul body odor who was wearing a dark colored mask and gloves,” but she didn’t know his identity.
BSO video on case:
He did leave behind his semen, authorities said. Three months after the rape, detectives “developed a profile of an unidentified person” from the DNA, but couldn’t find a match at the time, according to BSO. Then, the case went cold.
Authorities said advances in DNA evidence led BSO investigators to reanalyze the semen and investigators asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to run the sample through its Qualifying Offender DNA Database, which uses the DNA profile to search for possible male relatives of the suspect.
“That testing identified a known offender who had spent time in prison and whose DNA was on file,” a BSO news release states. “The known offender was a close relative of the DNA contributor in this 2009 sexual battery case. That lead led detectives to Marcellus.”
The relative was Marcellus’ son, authorities said.
After learning that Marcellus had taken a trip to Haiti, detectives prepared a DNA search warrant for him for his Oct. 20 return and took a sample after he arrived at Miami International Airport, according to the release.
Deputies said the sample was a match. Investigators arrested Marcellus eight days later.
As of Monday, Marcellus was being held without bond in the BSO Main Jail.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
