Raleigh police, with DNA from old sexual assault kit, make arrest in 1990 rape case
Raleigh Police arrested a man Friday in 32-year-old rape case using DNA analysis.
Police announced the arrest Saturday, saying they had charged Deandre Marcel Smith, 51, with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.
The victim in the case was a 73-year-old woman who said a man broke into her home, demanded money and then raped her on Dec. 30, 1990. She lived at the time in the 200 block of South State Street, on the east side of downtown Raleigh. The victim died in 1992, police said.
The News & Observer reported the incident when it happened, saying the victim was blind and reported that a man broke in through a window around 7 p.m. The intruder also ripped the woman’s telephone from the wall, police said, and stole money from a dresser drawer. Police said they believed the man wore gloves and a ski mask at the time of the attack.
Police said Smith was identified through evidence obtained recently as part of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) and the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
