How 36-year-old DNA tech helped solve a 1990 kidnapping case

A man from Long Beach now faces charges after police used new DNA evidence to connect him to a robbery and assault that happened over three decades ago in Oxnard. Back in 1990, an 18-year-old woman was taken by force from her car at gunpoint by two suspects. She was robbed, dragged down an embankment, and sexually attacked before escaping by crashing her car into a nearby pole. Witnesses got her help, and police collected evidence at the time, but no suspects were named for years.Technology played a big role in finally cracking the case. The evidence collected in 1990 was preserved all these years, and recent improvements in DNA testing finally made it possible to identify one of the attackers. While the suspect, now 55 years old, can’t be charged for the assault because the time limit for that crime has passed, he is still facing charges for kidnapping and robbery with a gun. The case also shows how law enforcement sometimes holds onto old evidence, hoping future science might bring answers. Investigators are still searching for the second suspect who joined in the attack that night. There’s also a chance this same person committed other crimes around the same time in the early 1990s. Authorities are asking anyone with information about similar cases or this incident to come forward with details.