Serial killers and true crime

Suspected serial killer seeking release.

Reported by: Marcos Ortiz Images
(ABC 4 News) SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – It may be the state’s last attempt to keep a suspected serial murder behind bars.

Donald Younge has escaped charges of multiple murders in Illinois and Utah.

But in 2009, he was convicted of raping a Salt Lake City woman.

Now his attorneys are appealing that conviction before the Utah Supreme Court claiming the state took much too long to try Younge.

It all started with the murder of Amy Quinton. Her case was unsolved for six years.

That is until Younge went jailed in Illinios for a multitude of murders.

Police claim his DNA matched that found in the Quinton murder and a 1996 rape.

“He brutally raped and assaulted Rebecca Clawson assaulted and fled justice for six years,” says Jeff Gray, deputy Attorney General.

Younge’s murders in Illiniois were dismissed because a key witness was found murdered.

That’s when Younge was brought to Utah to face the murder and rape charges.

But the murder charges were also dropped because of sketchy testimony.

In 2009, Younge was convicted of the rape and his attorneys are now appealing to the Supreme Court.

Attorneys representing Younge in Tuesday’s hearing refused to comment afterwards. But Gray says they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary by waiting for Illinois to finish its case.

“We were simply taking our turn,” says Gray. “The state of Illinois had him in custody and when they were finished we brought him to Utah and tried him seven months later.”

The justices took the matter under advisement.