Many in Santa Fe undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief on July 20 when city police told The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that they had likely identified the man responsible for many of the sexual assaults that have plagued the city for months.
Capt. Gary Johnson told the New Mexican-in two front-page stories-that David Giba probably committed at least eight of 11 rapes or attempted rapes between September 2006 and May 2007.
"The investigative process identified Mr. Giba as the suspect in at least eight of these cases," Johnson tells SFR. "But Mr. Giba's own actions stopped the process from going forward as far as taking it to court."
Giba, 44, hanged himself May 17 in his cell at the Santa Fe County Detention Center after he was arrested for exposing himself to a woman and subsequently charged with an attempted rape that occurred last September.
But neither the targeting of Giba as the probable serial rapist nor local media coverage of the case is without controversy.
Much of that controversy centers around messages Giba wrote on his jail cell wall and in a letter to family and friends before his death. The writings are a key part of the police's case against Giba and were excerpted in the July 20 New Mexican over the objections of Giba's family.
"It was, at a minimum, in poor taste to publish David's writings," a Giba family spokesman, who asked not to be identified, tells SFR. "We also feel that the New Mexican was grossly inaccurate based on the information the police have given us."
In his writings, Giba never acknowledged any involvement in the serial rape cases but did allude to his likely conviction on "all of the recent crimes for which I am a suspect."
"We have analyzed and picked apart those letters," Johnson says. "I have interviewed hundreds of suspects over the years and my personal take on Mr. Giba's letters is that these were not the writings of an innocent person."
While Johnson says the serial rape investigation has been exhaustive, police still have no conclusive physical evidence tying Giba to any of the crimes.
"It is the family's position that Gary Johnson-entirely for reasons of convenience-has accused or even convicted David of all eight crimes, in contrary to the known facts," the Giba family spokesman says.
Johnson acknowledges there are discrepancies in three of those cases that could eventually lead police to another suspect, but he bristles at charges of opportunism.
"Some people will say that it's easy for the police department to hang everything on Mr. Giba because he's dead," Johnson says. "But if that were the case, when Mr. Giba died, the police department would have come out and said, 'We caught our guy' and we didn't do that."
But the lingering questions over Giba's involvement also calls into question the New Mexican's decision to run excerpts of the suicide letters.
"There are times when public exposure of a suicide note or a suicidal personality makes a lot of sense," Dr. Frank Ochberg, chairman emeritus of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, says. "But if it comes out of context or under a wrong assumption about who is seriously harming women in the community, it's not only of no value-it's a diversion from the search for the truth."
Rob Dean, managing editor at the New Mexican, says careful consideration was given about whether or not to publish Giba's writings.
"We certainly weighed the different interests and were respectful of the family's wishes," Dean says. "But we also knew that the community was on edge."
Dean acknowledges that the dearth of conclusive evidence is a reason for pause but says public interest and concern over the case ultimately prevailed.
"We never said that anything was beyond a shadow of doubt," Dean says. "This situation ended in a way that we can never really prove the truth. But I have to rely on our reporters and editors who followed this case to determine that the police statements are credible."
Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at The Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism institute, says that relying too much on information provided by police can be troublesome.
"If there's no DNA evidence connecting this particular man, yet police are saying he's the primary suspect, then the focus should really be on whether the cops are doing their job," McBride says. "In a case like this, all of your decisions as a journalist should be about informing the public and holding authorities accountable."
Dean insists that the New Mexican's coverage has thoroughly scrutinized police performance. And while he says the assertion that Giba committed a bulk of the crimes may alleviate some community concerns, it won't alleviate all of them.
Indeed, police have acknowledged that at least two perpetrators were involved in the serial rape cases. In fact, two rapes occurred after Giba committed suicide.
"At no time have we ever started giving each other high fives and saying we caught our guy," Johnson says. "There is still a huge concern in this community on whether or not there's another serial rapist out there."
