UMVA has learned that a dramatic turn of events has unfolded in the case of Matthew Nilo, a New Jersey-based attorney accused of a string of heinous crimes in Boston nearly two decades ago.
Nilo, 38, returned to court on Monday as his defense team mounted a fierce challenge to DNA evidence gathered during a covert FBI operation at a Manhattan restaurant, a move they claim was conducted without a warrant.
The hearing revolved around DNA evidence that prosecutors say ties Nilo to multiple assaults in Boston in 2007 and 2008, when he would have been just 19 or 20 years old, leaving a trail of terror and devastation in his wake.
According to information obtained by UMVA, Nilo's attorneys are vehemently arguing that the DNA evidence should be dismissed because FBI agents collected it without a warrant during a 2023 stakeout at Oscar Wilde Restaurant and Bar in Manhattan, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the evidence.
The FBI agents allegedly followed Nilo from his New Jersey home to the Manhattan restaurant, where they sat near him for hours and coordinated with restaurant staff to collect items he used during the meal, including drinking glasses, a fork, and a napkin, in a meticulously planned operation.
Nilo's defense attorneys have argued that he did not abandon the items because he had no meaningful opportunity to take them with him when he left the restaurant, and therefore, any evidence collected from them is tainted and unreliable.
The prosecution has countered that once the items were left behind and cleared by staff in the ordinary course of business, Nilo had relinquished any expectation of privacy over them, making the DNA evidence collected from them admissible in court.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that the FBI's use of investigative genetic genealogy was instrumental in Nilo's arrest, a cutting-edge technique that has generated new leads in unsolved sex assaults, homicides, and other violent crimes.
Prosecutors revealed during a June 2023 hearing that investigators matched a DNA profile left on three rape victims to the profile of at least one of Nilo's relatives that had been uploaded to a public genetic genealogy database, a breakthrough that cracked the case wide open.
Nilo has remained free on bail throughout the proceedings, with his fiancée standing steadfastly by his side throughout the drawn-out hearings, a testament to her unwavering support.
He was initially charged in May 2023 with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape, and one count of indecent assault and battery, a shocking array of allegations that have left many reeling.
