CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say rape kit retesting made possible by a federal grant has led to the arrest of a convicted sex offender in a decades-old rape case.
News outlets report 52-year-old Christopher Lynn McNear was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree rape and kidnapping. He's accused in the 1995 rape of a 17-year-old girl, who was held at knifepoint and attacked while walking home from work.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Darrell Price says the teen was treated at a hospital and a rape kit was collected. But the kit was analyzed before DNA matching through today's genetic databases was possible. Federal money paid for more tests this year.
It's unclear if McNear has a lawyer. Court records say he was convicted in 1998 of indecent liberties with a child.
