26 years later, DNA samples convict Sarasota man of sexual battery with a deadly weapon
(Sarasota County)
SARASOTA, Fla. - DNA evidence helped convict a man for sexual assault on a New College student from 1994. Darryl King, 42, pleaded guilty Tuesday after DNA samples proved he was the attacker.
On April 16, 1994, at about 7 a.m., Sarasota police officers responded to the 5200 block of North Tamiami Trail, to an apartment where two women lived. The victim, a New College student at the time, told officers she was sleeping when a man entered her apartment through an unlocked sliding glass door, put a knife to her throat, sexually battered her and then robbed her of $25 at knifepoint.
The victim said she tried to fight off the man but was unable. The victim and the suspect did not know each other.
In 1994, Sarasota Police Department criminal technicians collected forensic evidence from the crime scene and sent it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who developed a DNA profile but could not provide a match at the time.
In November 2016, with advances in DNA technology, FDLE performed a familial DNA search using the male DNA profile obtained from the forensic evidence collected in 1994, which helped identify their suspect. In December 2018, FDLE generated a report identifying Darryl L. King, Jr. as the contributor of the suspect DNA collected from the 1994 crime scene.
Detectives arrested King on January 2, 2019.
Retired Sarasota Police Detective Bo Potter, who was one of the original case detectives, said he was glad to see this case finally come to a close.
“This case is an example of the commitment and professionalism of the detectives and crime scene technicians at the Sarasota Police Department, both past and present,” Potter said.
Judge Debra Riva sentenced King to 25 years in prison followed by a lifetime sex offender probation. King is being held at the Sarasota County Jail.
“In 1994, the victim received a life sentence with the trauma of being raped by this man,” said Assistant State Attorney Kennedy Legler. “Because of the hard work of the detectives of the Sarasota Police Department and the scientists at the FDLE, this conviction guarantees for the next 25 years he will remain locked up where he belongs.”