Altemio Sanchez

Altemio C. Sanchez (January 19, 1958 – September 22, 2023), also known as the Bike Path Rapist (and later Killer), was a Puerto Rican serial killer who is known to have raped and murdered at least three women, and raped at least 9 to 15 girls and women in and around Buffalo, New York, during a 31-year span from 1975, though perhaps earlier, to 2006.

A newspaper article in The Buffalo News states that between 1986 and 1994, Yalem's attacker "was linked to attacks on nine other" women in the area.

At the time the newspaper article went to print, police had not yet identified, nor arrested Sanchez.

Investigations into the murder of Linda Yalem (1990) were originally conducted by the Amherst, New York Police Department; the murder of Majane Mazur (1992) was originally conducted by the Buffalo Police Department; after the murder of Joan Diver (2006) a special task force – the Bike Path Task Force – was created by the Erie County (NY) Sheriff's Office, which included the New York State Police, Buffalo Police Department, Amherst Police Department; and support assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Police say DNA found at eight crime scenes matches DNA secretly taken from Sanchez before his arrest.

DNA from Sanchez was obtained after police who were members of the Bike Path Task Force acquired it.

Sanchez was arrested in both 1991 and 1999 for soliciting prostitution.

On one occasion, Sanchez also solicited prostitution from an undercover police officer for $25 and was fined $75.

Murders for which Sanchez confessed responsibility include those of three women:

The killer acquired the nickname because some of his crimes took place near secluded bike paths.

In 1992, through investigating the death of Yalem, police tied the DNA of Sanchez, who had not been apprehended, to attacks on six other area women, including one in Delaware Park.

Police were unable to connect DNA to a seventh attack on a 17-year-old girl in Hamburg, New York, although circumstances surrounding the attack on her were similar.

On the day that Sanchez confessed to the murders of Yalem, Mazur, and Diver the Hamburg New York attack survivor (who desired to remain anonymous) expressed surprise and relief.

Denise Foster is a survivor of an attack by Sanchez when she was 17 years old, near railroad tracks in Buffalo, New York.

Foster was raped and strangled with a ligature by Sanchez, and the scars from the strangulation she experienced are still visible.

Diver was the only one of Sanchez's known victims who was not raped.

A 2002 article that was published by Court TV identifies and describes eight victims and/or survivors of attacks by Sanchez.

The manner in which each was attacked was similar in that they were all strangled with a rope, cord, wire, ligature, or garrote, as well as being beaten, raped, and/or killed.

The victims and/or survivors of the attacks were between 14 and 44 years old.

He was apprehended in 2007 through DNA evidence and sentenced to 75 years-to-life, serving 16 years before dying from apparent suicide in 2023.

Sanchez was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico.

His family moved to the continental United States when he was 2 years old.

His father died when he was young, and his mother married again.

Sanchez lived in Florida before moving to the Buffalo area.

He has one brother and two sisters, and was described by an aunt as being a serious, quiet, and nice kid.

Sanchez was a machinist and factory worker who worked afternoon and night shifts at the former American Brass Company plant on Military Road in the Kenmore/Buffalo area.

He lived in the Cleveland Hill neighborhood of Cheektowaga, New York.

Sanchez was married to Kathleen, and has two adult sons.

He was the basketball coach of his sons' team at their school in Cheektowaga, and was the boys' Little League Baseball coach.

He played golf, enjoyed gardening, and is said to have lived a "regular" life.

Sanchez had also registered to run in one of the annual Linda Yalem Safety Run (formerly called the Linda Yalem Memorial Run) at the University at Buffalo, a run dedicated to the memory of one of his murder victims.

Sanchez was involved in the community and was well-liked by his neighbors, some of whom called him "Uncle Al" due to his charisma and interactions with them.

When Sanchez initially began to strangle and kill his victims, it is believed that he used a rope or cord.

He also beat and/or raped his victims during the attacks, and several of them are thought to have fought hard against him.

In later years of Sanchez's crimes, he used a ligature, wire, or garrote, to strangle and suffocate his victims.

Prior to Sanchez's arrest, DNA evidence suggested that the Bike Path Killer was of Hispanic descent, and an FBI profiler stated that the killer frequented sex workers.

They acquired silverware, a glass, and a napkin that Sanchez used while at dinner at a Latin American restaurant, Solé, in Amherst, New York, on January 13, 2007.

They submitted the items to the Erie County forensic lab in order to test for DNA samples.

The DNA samples matched those previously taken from the Bike Path Killer of Yalem.

Another newspaper article in McClatchy – Tribune Business News from 2007 states that police believed the attacker of Yalem and Diver was connected to "six attacks and possibly a seventh."