A DNA match led to detectives getting answers in a 28-year-old cold case, leading to the arrest of a Hickory man.
In December 1994, a 19-year-old was kidnapped near Brescia University in Owensboro, Kentucky. Investigators said she was assaulted in Owensboro and then taken to Indiana, where the assault continued.
Owensboro police said they recently reviewed the case and contacted the Indiana State Police Laboratory. The lab said they still had DNA evidence on file that was entered before the Combined DNA Index System, a national database, was created.
The state police were asked to reopen their case and retest the DNA, which brought to light a potential suspect. State and local police worked together to follow up on the lead.
On March 22, Owensboro detectives were able to find a match and identification for the suspect DNA.
On Friday, officers from the Brookford Police Department in North Carolina served a warrant out of Owensboro on Robert Shelton, 59, on charges of kidnapping and sexual abuse first-degree. He also faces charges of rape from the Indiana State Police in connection to the cold case, investigators said.
Shelton is from Hickory — Brookford is just south of Hickory.
No further information was released.