Robert Brian Thomas was arrested on December 16, 2019 and charged with two sexual assaults that took place in Florida in 1998.
A woman in her 20s was walking along Indian Rocks Beach when she was threatened and raped at knifepoint. Several months earlier there was a violent home invasion rape in Venice. Both women were raped at knifepoint and made to wash themselves after the rapes. Thomas is suspected in other rapes that took place in the area, but there was no DNA recovered from those assaults. Fingerprints of the suspect were also collected from the Venice crime scene.
The FGG investigation was conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). They found a match on GEDmatch to a fourth cousin. The initial confirmation was made through police surveillance of Thomas, who was then living in Michigan, followed by the surreptitious sampling of cigarette butts he discarded. Thomas had lived near the rapes at the time they were committed.
Thomas had gone to prison in 2010, but his DNA was not entered into the system because of a processing error.
Sources:
ABC 7 Staff. “DNA Leads to Arrest in 1998 Armed Sexual Assault Case in Venice.” My Sun Coast, December 16, 2019, last modified December 17, 2019. Accessed December 27, 2020. https://www.mysuncoast.com/2019/12/16/dna-leads-arrest-armed-sexual-assault-case-venice/.
King, McKenna. “Genealogy DNA Helps Arrest Man for Two Florida Rape Cases Dating Back 21 Years.” ABC Action News, December 16, 2019, last modified December 17, 2019. Accessed December 27, 2020. https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/genealogy-dna-helps-arrest-man-for-two-florida-rape-cases-dating-back-21-years.
Varn, Katherine. “Genealogy Database Leads to Arrest in 1998 Rapes, Pinellas Sheriff Says.” Tampa Bay Times, December 16, 2019. Accessed December 27, 2020. https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2019/12/17/genealogy-database-leads-to-arrest-in-1998-rapes-pinellas-sheriff-says/.