DNA match is made in ’99 rape case

Kansas City, Kan., police said Thursday that a kidnapping/rape case from eight years ago had been solved after a DNA sample matched a man serving time in a Missouri prison.

The case involves a Harmon High School freshman who was kidnapped in February 1999 from a Kansas City, Kan., neighborhood.

The girl was walking toward her bus stop near Baltimore Street and Miami Avenue when she was accosted Feb. 23. The man abducted her at gunpoint, took her to another location, raped her and then dropped her off at school.

Her violin and books were left in the snow near the bus stop.

Last August, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation lab matched a DNA sample from the case to the inmate.

The match was made possible through a system that takes the DNA of people convicted of violent crimes and attempts to match it to evidence from unsolved crimes.

The Police Department obtained additional information and DNA samples from the suspect, police said. Further tests confirmed the DNA link.

The suspect, who is serving a 30-year sentence in Jefferson City for kidnapping, rape and armed criminal action, was charged last month in Wyandotte County District Court, according to police.

His name and the charges he faces will not be made public until he is returned to Wyandotte County.