Reaction to man sentenced to nearly 50 years prison after found guilty in 1996 rape case
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A man found guilty in a 1996 rape case, will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
On Tuesday, December 13, a judge sentenced 61-year-old Timothy Iannone to between 49 and 59 years in prison, after he was found guilty of first degree rape and first degree kidnapping .
Timothy Iannone kidnapped a woman in 1996, terrorized her, and held her against her will as a sex slave.
The victim, Michelle Shepherd, took the stand during the trial.
WWAY doesn’t typically identify victims of sexual assault. In this case, Shepherd wanted hear voice heard.
“I wanted to be an advocate for all of those who could no longer speak or were too scared, of this man to come forward. So for me to come back here, it was really traumatic to relive that, but the amount of peace that I feel now, and the hope that I have for all of these other victims of his, it’s very amazing,” said Michelle Shepherd, testified against Timothy Iannone.
“We are not finished with Mr. Iannone, and we are going to do everything we can to speak for all time, for anything he did,” said Ben David, New Hanover County District Attorney.
Iannone is considered a suspect in the murders of Allison Jackson Foy and Angela Rothen, whose bodies were found near Monkey Junction in 2008.
“He is a suspect in not one, –but two gruesome homicides that occurred very close to where Michelle was abducted and attacked. Also, where Sonya, — I won’t use her last name, but Sonya was allowed to testify in this trial as an “other crimes” witness. She was literally held at knifepoint and raped over the graves of two of the women that we’re talking about,” said David.
Foy’s daughter, Courtney Jackson Hix attended the trial in support of Shepherd.
“She’s my hero right now, but listening to testimony –there are a lot of similarities that I’ve noticed, and it took Michelle 26 years to get the justice she has very much deserved, and we’ve been waiting 16 years for ours, and I just –I really hope that if anybody has any information, that I encourage them to come forward, because we would like our own day in court as well,” said Courtney Jackson Hix, Allison Jackson Foy’s daughter.
District Attorney Ben David says state legislation appropriated $6 million to test backlogged rape kits, which provided DNA evidence that linked Iannone to the crime, and allowed for one victim to see justice served.
David encourages anyone with information related to the murders of Allison Jackson Foy and Angela Rothen to contact the Wilmington Police Department at 910-343-3620.
