A newly hired lawyer suspected of raping four women while a student in Boston has agreed to be extradited to Massachusetts after the FBI arrested him outside his luxury New Jersey apartment.
Matthew Nilo, 35, of Weehawken, New Jersey, was seen in a Hudson County courtroom after his arrest on Tuesday for alleged attacks on four victims in the Terminal Street neighborhood of Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood in 2007 and 2008.
The cyber-lawyer was charged with aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and assault.
On Thursday, he waived his extradition after making a first appearance in a New Jersey court. He will be brought back to Boston, where he lived in the North End, to be tried in Suffolk Superior Court.
Police said all four attacks were linked to DNA, which was identified by the 23 and I genealogy database after family members voluntarily sent in samples, according to ABC 7.
Nilo was arrested by the FBI and cops outside his posh apartment on Harbor Boulevard, where he lives with his fiancé, after being ‘called to reception at his residence and told a large package had been delivered to him which was not did not fit in lockers at the facility where residents pick up packages,’ an affidavit revealed.
Matthew Nilo, 35, who once lived in the North End, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Weehawken, New Jersey, more than 15 years after he allegedly terrorized four victims in the Terminal Street neighborhood.
On Thursday, he waived his extradition after making a first appearance in a New Jersey court. He will be taken back to Boston, where he lived in the North End, to stand trial in Suffolk Superior Court.
After being taken down, he was taken into custody and relinquished his rights to Miranda before his four alleged victims were notified, according to the boston globe.
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative — a federal program designed to help deal with a backlog of rape kits — was used in the investigation after the Boston Police Department made contact in October.
In April, Nilo had been identified as a suspect, according to FBI Special Agent Joseph R. Bonavolonta.
The officer told a news conference that the four victims had been “waiting for years” to learn the identity of their alleged attacker.
“We certainly realize that identifying this individual does not ease his pain — nothing can, but hopefully it will answer some questions,” Bonavolonta said Tuesday.
Several photos posted to Nilo’s Facebook page at the time showed him living a life full of parties and drinking with his friends.
In one of his old photos, he was caught peeing in a hallway
“Today’s arrest is the direct result of the FBI’s use of investigative genetic genealogy, a unique method used to generate new leads in unsolved sexual assaults.”
Moreover, since the revelation, his employer Cowbell Cyber - for whom he started working in January – has suspended him.
The insurance company told DailyMail.com: “Matthew Nilo was an employee of Cowbell and was hired in January 2023 after passing our background check.
“Mr. Nilo’s employment with Cowbell has been suspended pending further investigation.”
Prior to Tuesday’s arrest, Nilo only came into court in 2008, where he was charged with a misdemeanor drug possession charge and was placed on pre-trial probation before the charge was dropped. ultimately rejected, the Boston Globe reported.
Nilo has reportedly been suspended by his employer Cowbell in light of the investigation
At the time of his arrest in 2008, he was on the Commercial Street residents list and worked as a cashier at a bagel store. Additionally, his probation record indicated that he would be allowed to attend the University of Wisconsin for school as long as he attended five AA meetings.
He had been arrested after being pulled over for a faulty headlight on July 12, 2008, and an officer noticed a bag and the smell of marijuana in the car, The Globe reported.
Several photos posted on Nilo’s Facebook page at the time showed him living a life full of parties and drinking with his friends.
Nilo’s LinkedIn paints a different picture than a man accused of rape.
According to Nilo’s Linkedin profile, before starting at Cowbell, he was a partner at Atheria Law in New York for three years, after working for Clyde & Co in San Francisco, California for more than five years.
He studied for a doctorate at the University of San Francisco School of Law from 2012 to 2015, after earning a degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010.
Nilo was studying at the latter college when the alleged crimes took place.
A former colleague of his told WCVS that it was “very shocking” to see Nilo’s arrest as he was “normal, a handsome kid who did well in everything he thought of”.
