DNA Evidence Links Niles Man To Florida Rape

police564-111
police564-111

DNA evidence has linked a Niles man to a rape in Florida more than 20 years ago. According to an ABC News affiliate in Sarasota, Florida, 61-year-old Robert Thomas is the suspect in the rape of a woman in her home in January of 1998. He has been arrested and charged with sexual battery with a deadly weapon. The Niles Police Department says it was contacted in late November by detectives out of the Venice Police Department in Florida. They arrived in the area on December 12 with a warrant for Thomas and he was taken into custody and lodged at the Berrien County Jail to await extradition. The Venice Police Department says it was able to match DNA taken from the scene of the 1998 rape to Thomas using cigarette butts collected in Niles.