Unsolved Sexual Assault Case from 14 Years Ago Solved by DNA Matching

A man who broke into a house where a woman was alone, committed sexual assault, and fled was caught 14 years later through DNA analysis.

The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office's Women and Children Crime Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Gumiok) announced on the 8th that a man in his 50s, Mr. A, was arrested and indicted on charges including home invasion rape under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act.

According to the prosecution, Mr. A is accused of breaking into a house in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, in October 2009, threatening and raping a woman in her 20s who was alone. The case remained unsolved for 14 years as the perpetrator's identity was not identified at the time, but a breakthrough was found in May this year when Mr. A was convicted of another sexual violence crime.

The prosecution compared Mr. A's DNA with the DNA found at the scene of the case, stored at the National Forensic Service, confirmed a match, and requested the police to reopen the investigation. The Seoul Jungnang Police Station confirmed through additional investigation that Mr. A was the perpetrator of this case and sent him to prosecution in custody at the end of last month. Mr. A is reported to have admitted to the crime and acknowledged the charges.

According to the so-called "DNA Act" (Act on the Use and Protection of DNA Identification Information), enacted in 2010, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the National Forensic Service each store DNA of convicted persons and detained suspects or DNA collected from crime scenes in a database. This database is used for DNA comparison analysis to track perpetrators of long-unsolved cases.

A prosecution official said, "We will continue to utilize the DNA database to thoroughly pursue violent crimes and do our best in investigation and prosecution to ensure that sentences commensurate with the crimes are imposed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.