A local prosecutor feels “justice has prevailed” as the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and 30-years to life sentence of a rapist that stood trial for crimes he committed 20 years prior.

In December 2018, spectators, victims, family members and others gathered in the Judge Kelly Cottrill court as a jury returned its verdict.

The verdict read that all members of the jury found defendant, John J. Iden, Jr., guilty on all six felony charges — three counts of kidnapping, one count of rape, one count of attempted murder and one count of felonious assault. Iden was subsequently sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

Iden was accused of raping and attempting to murder a woman that was found badly beaten in Dillon State Park the morning of Sept. 25, 1998.

After an investigation, the case ran cold due to a lack of information and technology that wasn’t advanced enough to be reliable.

Following his sentencing on Jan. 2, 2019, Iden filed to appeal his case citing “other acts” as his reasoning to appeal.

During the trial, five victims were called to the stand to testify. All five women were victims of sexual assault by Iden, but only one of the women called to testify was a victim in the 1998 situation in question.

Each of the five women testified to their encounters with Iden and the details of their sexual assault.

“He had a pattern or a modus operandi of how he would go about committing his crimes which is why you see the reference in there (the appeal) to a behavioral fingerprint,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ron Welch said. “The actions were so distinct to him and his acts that the jury was able to consider those for purposes of establishing that he was the person that did it because it was so closely tied to establishing actions and identity.”

While there were multiple women that testified during the trial, there were multiple other women that were victims of Iden that did not testify.

“The information that we had indicated that he is one of the worst actors, one of the worst rapists that I’ve encountered in my career,” Welch said. “Not only were there the women that testified in court that matched his pattern so distinctly, but there were numerous other women who were sexually assaulted by him over a period of time that we met with.”

Welch added that law enforcement knows of well over 12 women that were victims of Iden.

During the trial and after its conclusion, the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as law enforcement received additional calls from women stating that they were also victims of Iden.

“Having the victims, even the ones that didn’t testify, come in and talk to us allowed us to really establish how he perfected his method of isolating and sexually assaulting women,” Welch said. “You can see an evolution as he was learning how to avoid detection, what victims to select, how to best isolate them.”

Iden’s known sexual assaults date back to 1996 when he was convicted in a sexual battery and gross sexual imposition case.

The most recent instance that law enforcement was made aware of occurred in the late 2000s, Welch said.

“The most important part of his appeal being affirmed is that he will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, and not a threat to anyone else,” Welch said. “And it allows …  his victims are able to move forward with some sense of closure and some sense of safety.”

Due to the nature of the case, and the time that had lapsed since the occurrence, Welch said there were hundreds of hours poured into re-investigating and prosecuting the case.

“For the victims, it’s been a sense of relief,” Welch said. “For law enforcement and our office you feel that justice has prevailed and that he’s being held accountable for at least some of the things that he’d done wrong, some of the crime that he’d committed.”

Iden, now 46 years-old, remains incarcerated at the Southeastern Correctional Institution.

For more information on this case, visit previous stories:

• Man stands trial for 1998 alleged rape, attempted murder case
• Five additional, alleged victims testify man in 1998 case sexually assaulted them
• Victim reveals her scars during testimony in 1998 rape, attempted murder case
• Jury finds Newark man guilty on all charges in case from 1998
• Newark man in 1998 case facing life in prison without parole
• Iden receives sentence of 30 years to life in 1998 rape, attempted murder case
• Prosecutor expresses ‘deep appreciation for victims in Iden case