When a 12-year-old Dundalk girl was raped in 1997, the case went unsolved for years. But it might be closer to resolution now that DNA evidence has led to the indictment of a man serving a life sentence in Virginia.
Baltimore County police identified the man Wednesday as Robert D. A. Kirby, 27, who would have been 14 at the time of the attack. Authorities plan to extradite Kirby to Baltimore County for prosecution of a first-degree rape charge.
The girl was attacked Feb. 11, 1997, as she walked home from school, police said. She told officers that a man approached her from behind, placed his hand over her mouth and forced her to the ground in a wooded area off Tyler Road and Railway Avenue. He raped, hit and choked her, she said, and threatened to kill her if she contacted police. After the attack, he ran away, the victim told police.
She described him as being between 17 and 20 years old. A search for the suspect at the time was unsuccessful.
The investigation continued for months, police said Wednesday, but detectives were short on leads. Finally, in August 2008, after a re-examination of the girl's clothes, biological evidence was found and a DNA profile developed. The data were submitted to the Combined DNA Index System in March 2009, and a month later a tentative match was made with the Kirby's DNA.