Nov 04, 2003 - 11:11:13 CST
BILLINGS, Mont. - A man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and trying to kill a disabled woman in 1998 remains a suspect in unsolved cases in North Dakota and Minnesota, a police detective says.New evidence will be sent to the FBI crime lab for analysis that could link Floyd Tapson, 42, to the two cases, Grand Forks Police Detective Mike Sholes said Tuesday.
"Physical evidence has surfaced," Sholes said. He declined to discuss it.
Tapson, of Billings, agreed to a 75-year prison sentence as part of a plea agreement last week on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder. He was charged in the 1998 attack on a 22-year-old developmentally disabled woman. Sentencing was set for Nov. 21.
Investigators say unsolved crimes in North Dakota and Minnesota are similar to the Montana crime, in which they say Tapson befriended a woman at a group home where he worked, raped her and tried to kill her.
The link to Tapson grew stronger when the investigators found that Tapson held similar positions at group homes in the areas where other women disappeared, Sholes said.
The first case involved the disappearance of Carla Beth Anderson, 23, of Wadena, Minn., in 1987. Tapson was tentatively ruled out as a suspect in that case after an interview and polygraph exam last year, Sholes said.
"He didn't appear as strong of a suspect as he was," Sholes said. "That doesn't mean the possibility doesn't surface again."
Tapson remains the top suspect in the 1994 killing of a 22-year-old woman in Moorhead, Minn., and the 1996 disappearance of a 19-year-old woman in Grand Forks, Sholes said.
Both cases involve victims who were developmentally disabled.
Kristi Nikle, 19, disappeared in the Grand Forks area in 1996; Renae Lynn Nelson, of Moorhead, Minn. 22, disappeared in 1994 and was found dead in the Red River months later.
"Tapson has never provided us any information on any of the cases to help him or eliminate him. He strongly denies any involvement in any of these things," Sholes said.
"As far as ours go and as far Clay County (Minn.) goes, nothing has changed.
"We're going to keep progressing. Obviously, science, technology develops daily," Sholes said.
The detective also said he wants to talk with Tapson again.
"I have every intention in the world of going back and visiting with him for as many times as it takes," Sholes said. "He's been cooperative, but I'm under the impression he's not telling me everything."
Sholes said analyzing the new evidence could take months, but authorities have time on their side in Tapson's case.
"He's not going anywhere," Sholes said.
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