Investigators break down cold case conviction of Kentucky serial rapist: ‘He is an animal’

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — A 55-year-old central Kentucky man, George Wayne Aldridge, has been convicted of a 2005 rape in Jefferson County and sentenced to 18 years in prison. 

Investigators describe Aldridge as a serial rapist who preyed on women across the region for decades. 

“For too many years, he was allowed to roam our streets across central Kentucky,” said Kentucky State Police Detective Ben Wolcott. “He is an animal.”

Aldridge must serve 85% of the sentence before he is eligible for parole and will also be required to register as a lifetime offender on the sex offender registry. 

He was accused of five decades-old sexual assaults across Kentucky.

In 2023, he was charged with three abductions and sexual assaults that happened between 2009 and 2016 in Fayette County. These charges include two counts of first-degree rape, first-degree wanton endangerment, two counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of adult kidnapping, and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. 

Aldridge also faces adult kidnapping and first-degree sexual abuse charges in Scott County. 

The Jefferson County conviction was made possible by DNA testing, part of Kentucky’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). State police forensic genealogy confirmed his DNA matched five other assault cases. 

“We’re blessed with the funds, and we’re blessed that we can get some of these victims long overdue justice,” Det. Wolcott said. “But it’s also a curse in a way that we still have too many victims out there waiting on this. So it’s important that these victims don’t give up hope. I always say that justice delayed is still justice served.”

The KSP SAKI team launched in 2021 with a $1.5 million federal grant. That money moved investigators and an analyst from the Attorney General’s Office to state police, strengthening the state crime lab’s resources. 

“We have the ability now to resurrect these old cases and bring them back to life. We have the ability to use cutting edge DNA technology now and incorporate a multi-agency response to these and work in conjunction with our partners in law enforcement so that these victims don’t give up; these victims can now say, ‘Hey, my case does matter,’” added Det. Wilcott. 

Det. Wilcott also encourages victims to come forward and reach out to KSP or their local jurisdiction so they can resurrect the case. 

Aldridge is set to be sentenced on November 5th in Jefferson County. 

He also faces hearings in Scott and Fayette Counties for other cases.