Cigarette Helps Police Find, Arrest Suspect in Decades-Old Child Rape Cases By Virginia Chamlee

A cigarette butt helped crack a nearly 25-year-old case in Kansas, authorities said this week.

On Tuesday, Dec. 30, police in Lawrence, Kan., held a press conference to announce that DNA found on a single cigarette butt led to an arrest in two child sex crimes cases from 2000 and 2003.

Police Chief Rich Lockhart said that the cigarette butt along with genetic genealogy technology led law enforcement to David James Zimbrick, 58, who was arrested Monday in Raytown, Mo., on suspicion of raping a 7-year-old girl in a park more than 20 years ago.

“It’s been 9,257 days since David James Zimbrick sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in Naismith Park,” Lockhart said. “He is in a place where he will not ever be able to hurt another child.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

According to KCUR, Zimbrick is facing charges of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child in two separate cases from 2000 and 2003.

He is now being held on $1 million bond in Jackson County, Mo., and will be extradited to Douglas County, per the outlet.

Lockhart credited the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, a genetics testing lab and Lawrence police detectives Meghan Bardwell and Amy Price for their help in cracking the case, the outlet reported.

He also recognized retired police detective Mike McAtee for his collection of the cigarette butt years ago, saying, “Without that piece of evidence, we would not have been able to link these two cases.”

Lockhart said the 2000 incident took place when three children were riding their bikes in a park and a man offered them $20 to help him find something.

After one of the children went with the man, another of the children told a parent, who went searching for his daughter. When he found her, she allegedly said she had been sexually assaulted by a man who had been smoking a cigarette. 

After two detectives — one of whom is now-retired Detective McAtee — searched the park, they located a still-smoldering cigarette butt.

Lockhart said the other incident took place in May 2003, when two 10-year-old boys were riding their bikes in the same park, and a similar situation unfolded, with a man offering them $20 to help him find something. When the boys went searching in different directions, the man allegedly sexually assaulted one of the boys.

In the 2003 case, sexual evidence was collected — and in 2016, using a DNA index system, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation determined that the cigarette butt tied the two cases together.

Decades later, officials used genetic genealogy technology to identify the suspect’s mother and, eventually, the suspect himself.

Lockhart said that there are “three additional cases that have similar suspect descriptions and MOs” but there is currently no physical evidence officials can use to link the cases to Zimbrick.

“I hope this arrest provides some measure of comfort to the survivors,” Lockhart said.

“While we do not have any evidence of additional victims, it is likely there are other cases out there and we hope this investigation will help locate those other cases.”