A Fayetteville woman was robbed and raped at gunpoint in her own home in July 1990 by an intruder who vanished before officers arrived, and for 36 years, police had no idea who he was. Now they finally do — but the man will never face a judge, because he is dead.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the Fayetteville Police Department revealed the breakthrough in a news release issued September 10, confirming that DNA testing has identified the man who broke into the victim’s Fayetteville home, about 65 miles southwest of downtown Raleigh, held her at gunpoint, physically assaulted her, and stole items before sexually assaulting her and fleeing before officers could arrive. Detectives determined the suspect was an active-duty U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg at the time of the attack, according to the Fayetteville Police Department. The victim was taken to a local hospital and treated for her injuries.
For decades, the case sat as an unsolved cold case with no viable suspect. The break didn’t come from a lucky tip or a confession — it came from a laboratory. The victim’s sexual assault kit was first sent to Bode Cellmark Forensics in 2018 through federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant funding, producing an unknown male DNA profile that ran through CODIS and the North Carolina State DNA Database without a match, the Fayetteville Police Department said.
Genetic Genealogy Finally Closes the Gap
With traditional databases exhausted, Fayetteville detectives turned to newer science. In 2025, using SAKI grant funds, police resubmitted the unknown male profile to Parabon NanoLabs for advanced genetic genealogy and phenotype testing, generating a lead that pointed investigators toward a specific family tree. The North Carolina State Crime Laboratory officially confirmed the match against the victim’s kit in August 2026, the Fayetteville Police Department reported…