***MEDIA ADVISORY***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 16, 2014
26 YEARS LATER, CHILD RAPIST CONVICTED AFTER VICTIM REIGNITES INVESTIGATION
Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888
After seeing media reports of successful prosecutions based upon forensic DNA analysis, the victim of an unsolved abduction and rape from 1988, when she was merely 10 years old, contacted the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department to inquire about her case. The Sheriff’s representative that took her call, Diana Hoke, remembered the case and contacted Gary Kenawell, a former Sheriff’s Detective employed as an investigator for the Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney. Kenawell had originally assisted in the investigation and had never lost hope that the case would be solved.
Within days of the original crime, items believed to contain biological materials from numerous clothing items of the victim had been sent to the Indiana State Police Laboratory. Due to the limitations of forensic science in 1988, the Lab was originally unable to provide any conclusive assistance in the investigation at that time. However, they did maintain samples of the evidence in a secured vault where they remained, untouched, for over 25 years. The Sheriff’s Department was able to locate old reports, and Investigator Kenawell tracked down witnesses and additional records from the physicians that treated the victim.
After the case was officially re-opened, the Lab confirmed the samples were still in good condition and secure, and able to be analyzed utilizing current DNA technology. In late 2012, this analysis showed the biological material preserved since 1988 came from the victim, as well as an unidentified male. The DNA profile of the unidentified male was submitted to the CODIS database (Combined DNA Index System) which collects, catalogs, and maintains DNA samples from convicted felons across the nation for comparison with cases where an unknown profile is identified.
Upon notification that CODIS had, presumptively, found a match to the profile of the unidentified male, a search warrant was obtained to collect a confirmatory sample of DNA from one Robert E. Quinn, an inmate at New Castle Correctional Facility, already serving a sentence for an unrelated Child Molesting conviction.
The Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney filed formal criminal charges on March, 2013, which were to proceed to trial on Monday, December 15, 2014. However, shortly before trial, the defense counsel filed a challenge to Counts 1 and 3 (the Child Molesting and the Confinement) alleging a violation of the statutory Period of Limitation for B felony actions. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Vicki Becker countered the challenge by arguing an exception to the otherwise 5 year Period of Limitation exists for cases where evidence sufficient to charge an offender is discovered through the analysis of DNA.
Preserving his challenge to the charges of Child Molesting and Confinement, the Defendant pled guilty to the court on the charge of Rape, a Class A felony, on the morning the trial was set to begin as the jury waited patiently. In another hearing room in the historic Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen, the Defendant was providing a factual basis in vivid detail. His former victim witnessed his admissions and description of how he abducted her as a child, merely 4 foot tall compared to his 6 foot frame, struck her in the face to keep her quiet, covered her eyes with his coat to conceal his identity, and proceeded to rape her while she cried. Quinn further conceded that he caused serious bodily injury to the child during the rape as her internal injuries required surgery and several days hospitalization for recovery.
Judge Biddlecome entered a judgment of conviction regarding the Rape charge, and set the remaining counts for an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, beginning at 10:00 am, in the Elkhart Superior Court 3.
Ms. Becker and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelan Doyle intend to proceed with additional evidence to prove the Child Molesting and the Confinement charges in a bench trial in front of Judge Biddlecome following the evidentiary hearing. If convicted, Quinn is likely to face a prison sentence of between 20 and 53 years.
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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
