For more than a decade, the 13 victims of the "Parkway Rapist" have been without justice. Police were never able to arrest the person they think abducted and brutally attacked 10 teenage girls and three women near the Jordan River Parkway between 1990 and 1993.

With new DNA evidence, Salt Lake police are certain they know who committed those crimes, but it may not matter. The statute of limitations for rape has run out and the man, whom police identified as 40-year-old Rudy Romero, cannot be prosecuted. But Romero is in prison on an unrelated charge, and authorities may be able to extend the time he spends there.

"There is a four-year statute of limitations," Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said, adding that police have sought advice from local, state and federal prosecutors on some legal alternative that would result in charges. "There appears to be no way."

DNA evidence has linked Romero to five of 11 rapes that occurred between March 1990 and July 1993, police say. Four of the cases occurred in Salt Lake City and one in Salt Lake County. Police believe there is enough evidence to link Romero to the other cases as well.

Romero has been in the Utah State Prison since 1994, serving a five-year-to-life sentence for aggravated robbery, Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said.

Romero actually was paroled from prison in January 2004 but was returned in late spring after violating a condition of his parole. He was set for release again on July 27, but that date was rescinded by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole in June, after the five-member panel learned that police had linked Romero to the rapes.

Romero appeared before board member Curtis Garner on Friday morning for a recision hearing, board chairman Mike Sibbett said.

"We have a full range of options," Sibbett said Friday afternoon. "When new information comes to light, the board has the authority and the ability to consider (it) and re-evaluate, whatever our prior decision." A decision is expected within four weeks.

Utah's sentencing laws give the board ultimate power in deciding how long any inmate stays in prison. That does not change just because a parole date has been granted, Sibbett said.

"There is no constitutional right to be released prior to the end of your sentence, and if you are in prison on a first-degree, five-to-life felony there is no guarantee or constitutional right that you would ever be released short of the end of your natural life," Sibbett said.

That said, the board will still consider all new information about Romero, including any statements Romero made in Friday's hearing with Garner, and decide if there sufficient cause to maintain the initial recision of Romero's parole, he said.