Former Doctor And Convicted Rapist Charged For 1988 Cold Case After DNA Testing

A former doctor and convicted rapist in Texas has been charged with murder after a woman died from injuries sustained during an alleged sexual assault in 1988.

George Guo, 56, allegedly stalked, raped and strangled fellow doctor Katherine Bascone 30 years ago. She suffered brain damage and lived the rest of her life with round-the-clock care. Bascone died in hospice in February 2018. A medical examiner concluded that she died from complications related to the brain injuries she suffered during the attack and ruled her death a homicide.

The rape case had long been cold, but detectives re-opened their investigation after Bascone’s death. They used DNA samples from her 1988 rape kit to link Guo, a known sex offender, to the crime, according to an affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.

Guo has been in and out of prison since the '90s. He has been linked to three other cases that involved rape and attempted sexual assault. In at least some of the cases, Guo allegedly stalked his victims and then broke into their home, wearing a mask and gloves. In one 1990 case, when he was still a licensed doctor, cops found him inside a woman’s home with multiple syringes and medical grade sedative, according to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

Bascone was a 28-year-old doctor living in Highland Park, near Dallas, when Guo allegedly assaulted her on June 19, 1988—the day of Guo’s 27^th birthday. Cops found the young doctor in her home with her nightgown pushed up towards her head and strangulation marks on her neck, after she missed a family function the night before. Neighbors reported seeing an Asian man dressed in black hanging around Gascone’s home in the days before the attack.

Police never had enough evidence to develop any suspects. 

In 1990, Guo was arrested while raping a 19-year-old college student in the Highland Park area. She managed to call police, who busted Guo while he was tying her up and beginning to rape her. Guo was a licensed medical doctor at the time. Police found him dressed in all black carrying a mask, mace, a glass-cutter, condoms and medical-grade sedatives.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison and later released on probation, according to the Dallas Morning News. Similarities in the case, led cops to suspect Guo of Bascone's rape at the time, but they had no physical evidence to link him to the crime. 

In 1999 he was arrested again for breaking into a woman’s home and stealing a picture of her. Cops also believe he raped a University of Houston student in 1998. He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault in 2003 and was sentenced to 14 years that time, according to the News. He was released in 2013.

Guo faces capital murder charges and is in jail on $5 million bond, according to inmate records. 

[Photo: Dallas County Jail]