Arrest made in decades-old Fayetteville rape case

F.T. Norton, Fayetteville Observer
·2 min read
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A Fayetteville man was arrested Wednesday after police say advancements in DNA technology connected him to a decades-old sexual assault case in the city, the Fayetteville Police Department announced.

Linford Deamoris Moore, 55, is charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and felony breaking and entering. He stands accused of sexually assaulting a woman in October 1997 after breaking into her Fayetteville home, waking her from her sleep and placing a bag over her face, a news release said.

Moore was arrested in Hope Mills by members of the Fayetteville Police Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team and Hope Mills Police Department.

“Due to the ongoing advancements in DNA technology, and collaboration from Parabon Nanolabs, Inc., the NC State Crime Laboratory, analysts with the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, and other members of Fayetteville Police Department’s Sexual Assault Cold Case Multidisciplinary Team, Moore was identified as a suspect,” the news release said.

According to its website, Parabon Nanolabs, of Reston, Virginia, provides the following DNA analysis:

— Genetic Genealogy: Identifies a subject by searching for relatives in public databases and building family trees.

— DNA Phenotyping: Predicts the physical appearance and ancestry of an unknown person from their DNA.

— Kinship Inference: Determines kinship between DNA samples out to six degrees of relatedness.

"Starting with extracted DNA or biological evidence from your case, we will predict the unknown person's ancestry and pigmentation, then perform a genetic genealogy screening to determine if such analysis would be helpful. If more information is needed, we can optionally produce a detailed phenotyping report and composite sketch and/or perform kinship analysis to advance the investigation," the website states.

At least twice before, Parabon Nanolab's DNA work has helped to crack unsolved rape cases in Fayetteville. In 2018, genetic DNA connected Darold Bowden of Linden to a series of rapes from 2006 to 2008 along Ramsey Street. Bowden pleaded guilty in February 2022 and was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. And in 2019, Johnnie B. Green was connected to nine rapes in Fayetteville, Cumberland County and Hope Mills between June 2009 and November 2010. He was sentenced in October 2022 to more than 23 years in prison.

According to the Police Department, Moore is being held in the Cumberland County jail with bail set at $250,000 secured.

Anyone with information concerning a sexual assault case is asked to contact the Fayetteville Police Department’s Special Victim’s Unit at 910-433-1851 or Crimestoppers at 910-483-8477.

For individuals who have been or are victims of sexual assault, victim advocates from the Phoenix Center work with detectives to ensure victims receive appropriate care and access to resources, the release said. Reach the Phoenix Center by calling 910-485-7273.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: DNA advancements leads to arrest in decades-old Fayetteville rape