Bernalillo County DA wants to exhume the body of a veteran at the Santa Fe National Cemetery
Michael Magirl’s DNA has been tied to a 2002 rape case
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
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Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman has petitioned the Santa Fe District Court to exhume the body of Michael Magirl, a convicted rapist and Vietnam veteran buried in the Santa Fe National Cemetery, as part of an investigation into a 2002 rape case.
“He’s basically a monster. He has no business being there at a place of honor,” Bregman said.
Magirl’s DNA was identified as a match to the 2002 rape case through CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, which allows law enforcement to share and compare criminal DNA profiles to solve crimes.
“And we want to match up whether or not to see whether or not that DNA is a match with this individual. We know this individual has raped others. We want to confirm,” Bregman said.
Two weeks after the alleged 2002 rape, Magirl was shot and killed by Albuquerque resident Mira O’Connell during an attempted rape. O’Connell, who appeared on “Good Morning America” in 2002, described wrestling a gun away from Magirl after he broke into her home.
“And when he must have lost his grip and when he was on the floor. At that point, I had it. You had it and you fired it. I did fire three shots. After the three shots, I thought it was a cap gun because it seemed so surreal,” O’Connell said.
According to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, Magirl was a serial offender with a criminal history and incarceration record dating back to 1974.
Bregman’s office has been working through a backlog of rape cases, testing and confirming DNA matches to hold offenders accountable.
“We’ve convicted over a dozen, close to 20, I think, if not more, in the last three years of cold case rape cases and justice that may be delayed, but we are going to hold people accountable,” Bregman said.
