Rape and robbery from 24 years ago solved through DNA – 52-year-old arrested in Szczecin
Częstochowa police have detained Andrzej Z., suspected of a brutal assault and rape from 2002. He faces up to 12 years in prison.
Breakthrough after 24 years: DNA identifies perpetrator of assault and rape in Częstochowa
According to Google News PL, on the evening of 12 June 2002, an unknown man attacked a 43-year-old woman returning home from work along a residential path after getting off a bus. The attacker dragged the victim into bushes, struck her on the head, raped her, and then stole money from her bag. Biological traces were secured at the scene, however the perpetrator was not identified and the investigation was discontinued.
Criminal investigators from Częstochowa returned to the closed case years later, supported by experts from the X-Files unit of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Katowice. Detailed analysis of the materials from the proceedings made it possible to establish the suspect's identity. On Tuesday, 25 August, officers located and detained a 52-year-old man in one of the flats in Szczecin, as reported by Częstochowa police in an official statement.
The key evidence proved to be an expert opinion in the field of forensic genetics. The spokesperson for the Częstochowa Regional Prosecutor's Office, Tomasz Ozimek, told Wirtualna Polska that the DNA profile obtained from detained Andrzej Z. was identical to the traces secured at the crime scene 24 years earlier.
The prosecutor's office charged the 52-year-old with rape, robbery and causing minor bodily injury in circumstances of recidivism. The man denied his guilt and refused to provide a statement. On 26 August, the court granted the investigators' request and applied a three-month remand in custody against the suspect. Andrzej Z. faces up to 12 years' imprisonment.
Source: Google News PL