EVERETT — He called himself Mike. He snatched a 9-year-old girl from a south Everett bus stop four years ago, sexually assaulted her, then let her go.
"He told her not to tell. She did tell," Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.
Detectives investigated. On Friday, they arrested the man believed to be responsible, saying he had been connected to the attack through genetic tests.
The 29-year-old Everett man was jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail. He was being held at the Snohomish County Jail Saturday for investigation of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree child rape.
"We are very happy that this man is in custody, and hopefully the young lady can have some closure and put this behind her," Jorgensen said. "She was very helpful to law enforcement and was able to give us an excellent description. She reported it right away."
The girl was abducted about 8 a.m. Jan. 21, 2000, as she was waiting for her school bus at the intersection of Fourth Avenue W. and 124th Street SW in south Everett.
She told police that a man climbed out of a battered light-blue sedan and forced her into the front seat through the driver’s side door. She said he was slender and unshaven, with his long black hair in a ponytail. She remembered that the car was filthy inside.
Detectives worked with the girl to produce a drawing of the rapist’s face. They hoped somebody would recognize him and lead them to his door.
Instead, the break in the case came through computers.
The man has a long and active criminal history, including at least a dozen prosecutions in local courts, primarily for misdemeanor offenses such as theft. That changed in 2002, when he was convicted of felony possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell. He was sent to prison.
The man’s DNA was taken and entered into the state’s growing database of genetic information about known felons. The state crime lab had long before entered the same genetic data for the unknown person who had attacked the girl in 2000.
On Thursday, the Washington State Patrol crime lab told detectives they had found a match.
The man was arrested after his booking photos were compared with the composite sketch made four years before, and a records search showed that he had lived near where the girl was abducted, Jorgensen said.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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