Since 1993 Denton Police have been investigating two sexual assaults that happened in a park on West Windsor Drive.
"There was a 15-year-old child who was waiting in the park for other members of her cross-country team and that is when an unknown suspect violently sexually assaulted her," Denton Police Public Information Officer Allison Beckwith said.
The second happened in 1997 while a woman was walking in the park.
Over the years there were no hits on DNA evidence until a state-wide search this year through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
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"It was found during that search that a reasonable probability that the unknown serial sexual assault suspect that our agency was looking for was related to an individual who was already in the criminal justice system,” Beckwith said. “In other words, a familial match."
This led to 53-year-old Marcus Deshaun Johnson being arrested and indicted for two counts of aggravated sexual assault.
For advocate organizations that work with sexual assault survivors, this case brings encouragement.
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"I think it helps defy that stigma around reporting and that stigma about talking about what happened to someone if they were sexually assaulted,” The Women’s Center Assistant Director of Crisis Services Alisha Mathenia said. “So, it's so important for people to know that something will be done about this."
Mathenia said new DNA testing technologies will hopefully give many more survivors some closure.
"It does provide them a sense of and probably a bit of healing, again maybe not 100 percent closure, but some sort of resolution on something that really wasn't available years before and it's encouraging," Mathenia said.
