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BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Ten years ago, on July 19, 2002, it was a day of discovery for people of Baton Rouge. It was the day that a DNA match linked Derrick Todd Lee to numerous murders in the Baton Rouge area, which put a name to the serial killer that was on the loose.

Diane Alexander woke up on Tuesday morning July 9, 2002, not knowing that within a few hours she would be close to death. She was headed for a fight with one of the most brutal and savage killers South Louisiana had seen in sometime. Diane wouldn't have to go far to find that fight, it would show up at her front door.

Derrick Todd Lee attacked Diane Alexander in her Breaux Bridge home after pushing his way in. Lee beat her repeatedly and tried to rape. Alexander's son showed up and interrupted Lee.

Alexander was able to give police a description, 10 years ago, but no one recognized it as Lee. The same afternoon, the Louisiana State Police crime lab had made a big discovery. Scientist looking to link recent murder cases discovered the same DNA pattern had been left at two different crime scenes.

One DNA sample was collected at a murder scene on Stanford Avenue, the other was from a murder scene on Sharlo Avenue, both matched an unknown killer.

Late on that July afternoon police would announce that the same unknown killer had murdered and raped Gina Wilson Green and Murray Pace.

"It appears that we have a single killer," Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade said at the time "We want to caution everybody."

Those words on that July 9th day changed everything and put people on edge.

Although no one had a name to go with, the serial killer's DNA was enough to compare to future crime scenes and would eventually be tied to Derrick Lee a year later in May.

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10 years ago DNA linked Derrick Todd Lee to serial killings