DNA Helps Dodge County Sheriff’s Office Solve Cold Case

EASTMAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Dodge County Sheriff Office says advances in DNA technology and laws helped solve a 14-year-old rape case.

In December 1998, a local woman was attacked and raped as she walked home on Ben Giddens Road.

Sheriff Jeff Hinson received a letter stating that a California inmates DNA matched the case in their system. Thanks to California’s law on getting samples from inmates and advances in technology, forensics were able to crack the case quickly.

“Evidence science now and 14 years ago has been a drastic change,” said Hinson.

After sitting in a filing cabinet for nearly a decade, they began chasing old leads with new evidence.

“The main thing was to put our hands on the case file,” said Captain Tony Winborn, “and we had to go through a lot of old records.”

Investigators described the incident as a scene from an episode of Law and Order. This one was playing out in their own backyard.

“It’s just not something that happens a lot in criminal cases in rural Georgia,” Winborn said.

The cold case isn’t officially closed. Hinson says it’s now up to the victim and the district attorney’s office to press charges.

“Sometimes in cases this old, not just this particular case, but other cases too. They don’t want to talk about it anymore. They want to let by gones be by gones and that has a big bearing on the case,” Hinson said.

No arrests have been made and no word yet on if the victim will press charges. the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has solved two cases this year using DNA evidence.