PEMBROKE – The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office says that DNA evidence has led to the arrest of a 36-year-old Shannon man involved in a rape nearly two decades ago.
Jacob Ray Williamson was arrested Monday at a probation office in Pembroke, authorities said.
Williamson was given a $50,000 secured bond at an initial court hearing before being taken to the Robeson County Detention Center, a news release states.
In 2022, the suspect was arrested in South Carolina. The Sheriff’s Office said the case required that his DNA be submitted in order to be convicted. The information was entered into a Combined DNA Index System, police said, which helped deputies identify Williamson as the suspect in a 2004 rape case.
Eventually, his DNA led to his arrest on Monday.
“As technology and forensics continue to evolve, cases such as this will be solved,” Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said in the release. “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.”