DNA Evidence Leads To Arrest For Sexual Assault

(CBS 42) AUSTIN Austin Police have arrested Dennis Ray Goodman for the February sexual assault of a woman. They connected him to the crime by matching a DNA sample found on the victim with a sample on file in a crime lab database.

Police say Goodman, 43, and another man entered the car of a woman in the parking lot of the Jack in the Box at 6540 Ed Bluestein Blvd. (map) on the evening of Feb. 19 and threatened her with a handgun. They made her drive away from the restaurant and forced her to drink a soda. The woman lost consciousness and woke up, injured and with most of her clothing removed, near Highway 71 in Del Valle.

She called police, was taken to a hospital, and was given a medical examination. A sample of foreign DNA was procured and sent to a Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory.

On July 21st, a doctor from the crime lab produced a match of the DNA with a specimen in its DNA databank of offenders.

Police say they obtained a search warrant to get a saliva sample from Goodman Sept. 14, and established a match between it and the sample in the databank.

Goodman has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, and his bail has been set at $40,000. He is in custody at the Travis County Jail now.