Michigan Team Secures Conviction of Rapist Ten Years Later

In May of 1998, an intruder entered the Kentwood home of a family who had only lived there for three weeks.  He raped the thirteen-year-old daughter at knife point in her own bed and threatened to do the same to her mother if the child resisted or screamed.  When the attacker left, the child ran to the window to try to see the direction he headed, but did not see him again.

The victim immediately told her parents of the assault.  She was taken to the YWCA Nurse Examiner Program.  There, her medical needs were addressed and a sexual assault forensic exam, including the collection of DNA evidence, was conducted.  Law enforcement interviewed the victim, but because she did not have a complete description of the perpetrator, no suspects were identified.  The victim’s mother canvassed the neighborhood and organized community meetings, but to no avail.

For the next ten years, the victim processed the rape the best that she could, without closure and knowing that the attacker was still at large.  She would later testify that she was sure that he would never be found.

In December 2008, an inmate who was about to be released from the state prison system after serving six years for home invasion provided a DNA sample prior to exit, as required by law.  Law enforcement received a cold hit though the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS); his sample matched those collected at the forensic exam of the thirteen-year-old victim ten years earlier.  The perpetrator was released from prison on January 15 and was apprehended by law enforcement the following day.  Law enforcement learned that the perpetrator had lived only a couple of blocks from the victim at the time of the assault.  

At trial, the jury heard evidence that the chances of the DNA match being incorrect were 220 quadrillion to one.  The perpetrator provided a defense of consent.  The jury deliberated for forty minutes before finding him guilty of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct. 

The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Kentwood Police Department, and the YWCA Nurse Examiner Program and counseling services collaborated throughout the investigation and prosecution of the case to support the victim and pursue justice.  Although frustrated and confused ten years ago, the survivor now reports that it was an honor to work with the assistant prosecutor.  She received free counseling and support services through the YWCA.  After his conviction, she confronted the perpetrator, and he fully acknowledged every aspect of the assault as she remembered it. 

To avoid releasing potential suspects onto the streets, Michigan law now requires that DNA samples be collected upon entry into the state prison system.