Detectives in Broward County say a preserved DNA sample has finally caught up with a 39-year-old man from Flowery Branch, Georgia, tying him to an attempted sexual battery at a Dania Beach party back in January 2013. Jose Bello was arrested on May 5 and is expected to be extradited to Broward County for prosecution, closing what investigators describe as a 13-year cold case that was reassigned last fall.
According to WSB-TV, the incident took place during an event called “Igloo South Florida” near the 2600 block of Southwest 31st Street in Dania Beach. The victim told investigators she became incapacitated at the event and later woke up in an unfamiliar vehicle with two men, her pants pulled down. She reported that one of the men left behind DNA evidence, but early investigative work produced few solid leads and the file eventually went cold.
How Detectives Got a Match
The Broward Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit picked the case back up in November 2025 and sent the preserved DNA for another run through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). That search returned a hit for Jose Bello, according to Boca Post. Detectives then presented the victim with a photo lineup, and even more than ten years after the attack, she told investigators that Bello looked familiar.
Arrest in Georgia and What Comes Next
BSO detectives worked with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia to secure a DNA warrant, then traveled north to interview Bello. A DNA sample collected during that visit was sent to the BSO crime lab, where analysts confirmed it matched the original evidence from the 2013 case. Bello was arrested on May 5 in Hall County and is now facing a charge of attempted sexual battery of an incapacitated victim, with extradition to Broward County expected, WSB-TV reports.
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