A Michigan man has been nabbed for two-decade-old rapes in Florida after DNA within the circumstances matched a distant relative of the now-61-year-old suspect.

Genealogy database GEDmatch linked Robert Brian Thomas to the pair of sexual battery circumstances in Venice and Indian Rocks Seaside in 1998, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri informed reporters Monday throughout a press convention.

A 20-year-old sufferer informed police that she was raped and compelled to carry out oral intercourse on a nude man who approached her at Indian Rocks Seaside on Oct. 8, 1998. The suspect then pressured the lady to wash off within the Gulf of Mexico earlier than he fled, Gualtieri stated.

DNA proof was collected from the sufferer, however no matches have been present in nationwide and state databases on the time. Months later, investigators have been ready to hyperlink that genetic materials to one other 1998 rape that occurred in Venice, the sheriff stated.

Detectives later recognized greater than 90 individuals of curiosity in two intercourse assaults, however no arrests have been made.

Investigators from the Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement accepted the chilly case as a part of its family tree mapping program in December 2018, permitting police to work backward from an recognized member of the family towards a suspect, Gualtieri stated.

A match to a distant relative in Ocala — Thomas’ fourth cousin, who shared an ancestor with him on the “great-great-grandparent stage” — was recognized in March, narrowing the search to one genetic line within the household, together with 5 attainable suspects.

Authorities have been ready to acquire a DNA pattern earlier this month from Thomas, who was residing in Niles, Michigan, on the time, however didn’t say how they bought it. His DNA matched the genetic materials from each rape circumstances, Gualtieri stated.

As soon as in custody, Thomas informed police in Michigan that he both lived in or visited the Florida cities through the time of the reported rapes, however stopped in need of implicating himself within the crimes. Thomas was knowledgeable that the DNA was linked to the circumstances earlier than he stopped an interview and requested for an legal professional, Gualtieri stated.

“As soon as he was immediately confronted, he shut proper down,” the sheriff informed reporters.

Thomas is awaiting extradition to Florida, Gualtieri stated.