Alleged Boston rape victim says her 'life stopped' as suspect advanced law career
Matthew Nilo is charged with aggravated rape, among other crimes, stemming from attacks in 2007 and 2008
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A woman alleging she was raped by serial Boston sex-assault suspect Matthew Nilo says part of her "life stopped" as the suspect went on to study and practice law in major cities across the country.
The Boston Police Department and FBI linked Nilo, a 35-year-old Boston native and cyber attorney working in New York City at the time of his May arrest, to four sexual assaults that occurred in the Terminal Street area of Charlestown through a DNA analysis.
"It took away my freedom, honestly," Lori Pinkham told "Good Morning America" of the 2007 attack in an interview that aired Wednesday morning, adding that "a big part" of her life stopped "that day."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I couldn't work. I didn't want to spend time with anybody. Every day, I've lived in fear," she told "GMA."
ALLEGED BOSTON RAPE VICTIM FEARS SUSPECT MATTHEW NILO ‘COULD GET AWAY’ AFTER RELEASE ON BAIL
Lori Pinkham exits a courtroom in Suffolk County Superior court Boston on Monday. A bail hearing was held for Matthew Nilo, who Pinkham is accusing of rape in 2007. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)
Pinkham, who said she was working as a bar manager in Cambridge at the time of the 2007 attack, alleged that Nilo forced her into a vehicle at gunpoint near Government Center in downtown Boston.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He then allegedly drove her to Charlestown, and when he stopped, Pinkham tried to escape, but he caught up to her and raped her.
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Meanwhile, over the last 16 years, Nilo apparently went on to get his bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and worked for two years as a paralegal before moving on to the University of San Francisco School of Law, according to his LinkedIn.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Matthew Nilo is arraigned at the Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City, New Jersey, on June 1, 2023. Nilo, a cyber attorney in Manhattan, is accused of raping three women in Boston between 2007 and 2008. (Kevin C. Downs for Fox News Digital)
From there, Nilo worked at the Clyde & Co. law firm in San Francisco, Atheria Law in New York City and finally at Cowbell Cyber in New York, according to his LinkedIn. Cowbell Cyber confirmed to Fox News Digital after Nilo's arrest that he initially passed a background check, but his employment has been suspended pending investigation.
The lawyer was also apparently engaged to be married, according to his Facebook profile. A woman believed to be the suspect's fiancée appeared in court for his bail hearing on Monday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I had been out at one of the clubs I was doing promotions for, and I was walking out to my car. He pulled up in his car next to me and kind of cut me off and started yelling…something like, ‘Oh hey, I saw you. Do you need a ride?’ I was like, ‘No, I’m OK,' and that's when I saw he had a gun in his hand, and he just said, ‘Get in the car,’" Pinkham told "GMA."
"I just got really scared, and I got in the car," she recalled.
Pinkham is the first and only alleged sexual assault victim, out of four women, speaking publicly about Nilo, whom she did not know prior to his arrest. He would have been 19 or 20 years old at the time and in college, his LinkedIn shows.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist for Parabon NanoLabs, previously told Fox News Digital that experts in her field "have seen investigative genetic genealogy identify what is called a ‘new type of criminal,' someone who does something really horrible and violent once and then goes and lives a relatively normal life."
Matthew Nilo enters his arraignment at the Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City, New Jersey, on June 1, 2023. Nilo, a cyber attorney in Manhattan, is accused of raping three women in Boston, Massachusetts between 2007 and 2008. (Kevin C. Downs for Fox News Digital)
"This is a little different because this is a repeated offender," she added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Moore described genetic genealogy as "an unbiased tool … because it's simply all about science and genealogy," rather than a person's criminal background or demographics.
A woman believed to be Matthew Nilo's fiancée, Laura Griffin, watches his arraignment at Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City, New Jersey, on June 1, 2023. (Kevin C. Downs for Fox News Digital)
Moore said investigators would have collected DNA from the 2007 and 2008 assaults using rape kits directly after the crimes occurred. Years later, due to advances in investigative genetic genealogy research, authorities were apparently able to match a sample of Nilo's DNA to DNA taken from the crime scene.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}All four sexual assault cases are "DNA-connected," Boston Police Commissioner and Chief Michael Cox said at the time of Nilo's arrest.
The suspect's attorney, Joseph Cataldo, is questioning what he describes as "the suspicious nature in which the DNA was recovered, but we'll get to that in due course," he said Monday outside a Suffolk County courtroom.
Nilo is charged with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape, and one count of indecent assault and battery. He is expected to post bail.