ROBESON COUNTY, N.C. (WBTW) — DNA evidence led to the arrest of a man involved in a rape from nearly two decades ago, according to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.
Jacob Ray Williamson, 36, of Shannon, was arrested Monday at a probation office in Pembroke. He was given a $50,000 secured bond at an initial court hearing and taken to the Robeson County Detention Center.
Williamson was arrested in South Carolina in 2022, and the sheriff’s office said the case required his DNA to be submitted to be convicted. The information was entered into a Combined DNA Index System and helped deputies identify him as the suspect in a 2004 rape case.
That led to his arrest on Monday.
“As technology and forensics continue to evolve, cases such as this will be solved,” Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said. “This should clearly indicate that regardless of when and where a crime occurs, evidence doesn’t simply go away and can lead to an arrest even decades later.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 910-671-3170 or 910-671-3100. This case is being investigated by the juvenile division of the sheriff’s office and with assistance from the county’s rape crisis center.