Sacramento jurors convict Clover Leaf Rapist; man faces life term for brutal attacks decade ago
The man known as the Clover Leaf Rapist for a brutal series of strangulation attacks on women along a Sacramento freeway in 2013 and 2014 will face life in prison at sentencing in January.
J.D. Wallace Simien, 43, had roamed undetected for years before Sacramento investigators using genetic genealogy solved the case. Simien was arrested in November 2021, Sacramento County Main Jail records show.
Sacramento Superior Court jurors on Oct. 31 convicted Simien of two counts of kidnapping to commit another crime, two counts of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and assault with intent to commit rape.
Jurors also found true allegations of kidnapping of multiple victims and use of a knife in the commission of the crimes, Sacramento County District Attorney's officials said in a statement.
Simien faces 89 years to life in state prison. Sentencing is set for Jan. 10 in court. He remains held without bail at Sacramento County Main Jail.
Simien attacked the first woman Dec. 10, 2013, as she walked from a bus stop to a nearby bowling alley to meet her family.
Prosecutors said he grabbed the woman from behind and dragged her into the cloverleaf section of Interstate 80 and Madison Avenue where he strangled and raped her. He then took her belongings and identification and threatened to kill her if she told the police.
One month later, on Jan. 8, 2014, Simien attacked his second victim, a woman walking with luggage to meet a friend for a ride to the airport. Simien offered the woman a ride when she said she was lost, prosecutors said.
In the car, Simien groped the woman, stabbed her in the neck, then strangled and beat the woman before raping her in the same cloverleaf section of I-80 and Madison.
Two months later, late on March 8, 2014, Simien attacked a third woman after picking her up in his car as she walked home from a nightclub, prosecutors said. Simien drove the woman to her apartment, then groped and strangled her as she tried to leave the car. The woman managed to escape.
Investigators mined clues from DNA rape kits and the women's clothing to ultimately lead them to Simien.
Officials at the time of Simien's arrest said this was the same investigative tool used to identify Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer, also known as East Area Rapist, and Roy Waller as the NorCal Rapist. Both men were prosecuted in Sacramento County.
