Salt Lake police have used DNA analysis to identify a man they believe raped a 13-year-old girl nearly a year and a half ago.
The 25-year-old Sugar House man was charged Tuesday with rape of a child, a first-degree felony, in connection with an incident at Raging Waters park on July 18, 1992.The girl was playing in the pool when a man she had become acquainted with offered to help her stay afloat in the deep water. The man forced intercourse while in the pool and then fled into the crowd at the water park, police said.
Investigators had no leads for more than a year but then got a lucky break.
Detective Jim Hill was investigating another rape when he learned of a man who had allegedly bragged about raping a girl at the water park the previous summer. The detective contacted the man and received consent to take a blood sample from him.
A DNA test conducted by the Utah State Crime Lab indicated the man's blood matched a sperm sample taken during an examination of the girl, according to the charges filed in 3rd Circuit Court.
State criminalist Jay Henry indicated that the ratio of a random match is approximately 1 in 24 million.
The suspect was released Monday from the Salt Lake County Jail on $5,000 bond.