Texas Rangers, Local Authorities Identify Serial Rapist in Bastrop Co. Cold Cases

AUSTIN, TX — After nearly three decades of investigation, the Texas Rangers, along with local Bastrop County authorities, have officially identified the suspect believed to be responsible for a string of sexual assaults targeting elderly women between 1997 and 2005. The suspect, Emory Earl McVay of Smithville, died in 2010 at age 48, bringing long-awaited closure to several cold cases that had remained unsolved for years.

The cases first drew attention in March 2004, when an elderly woman was assaulted in her Bastrop County home. Investigators collected DNA evidence and submitted it to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) through the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Crime Laboratory Division. By October of that year, the DPS lab in Austin alerted the Texas Rangers of a potential match to a 1997 assault in Smithville involving a similar attack on an elderly victim.

In 2005, a third case emerged, with DNA evidence linking the new assault to the same unidentified suspect. Despite extensive testing over the years and numerous interviews with potential suspects, investigators were unable to find a match.

In 2021, the Texas Rangers reopened the case under the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), a program funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (DOJ/BJA). The program provides agencies nationwide with resources to further investigations into unsolved sexual assaults and sexually related homicides.

On Aug. 11, 2021, Bode Technologies began advanced DNA and genealogical testing on evidence from the 1997, 2004, and 2005 assaults. After years of work, the results finally identified Emory Earl McVay as the offender in August 2025. McVay’s criminal history included multiple burglary convictions across Central Texas.

Although McVay has been deceased for more than a decade, authorities emphasized the importance of the discovery. Cases like this highlight why law enforcement never stops pursuing justice for victims.

The Texas Rangers credited the collaboration of the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Bastrop County District Attorney’s Office, Smithville Police Department, Bode Technologies, and DPS laboratories in Austin and CODIS.