Alaska State Troopers are reporting a big break in a cold case of a child kidnapping and sexual assault.
Brooks E. Jackson of Wasilla has been linked to the crime, twenty years after it occurred.
The eight-year girl was abducted by a stranger from a bus stop near Wasilla in February, 1991. She was taken to a home and raped, then released a few hours later. After an investigation and a search, no suspect was ever identified.
Jackson was arrested and convicted in 2005 for a marijuana grow operation in his home. He was required to submit a DNA sample as part of his conviction. But Troopers say that Brooks committed suicide just before the sample could be analyzed.
The sample that Brooks provided was one of nearly ten million in the federal DNA database, but Troopers says it was a perfect match to a sample collected after the Wasilla abduction. After the DNA connection was made last September, Troopers say they began investigating Brooks, what he was doing in February in 1991 and what vehicles he was driving. Troopers say they were not able to locate the vehicle or home with a porch described by the girl during the abduction. But the DNA sample is an explicit tie to the case and they consider it closed.
There is no statute of limitations for such a crime in Alaska. But with the main suspect dead, Troopers say there will be no prosecution or conviction.
The girl is now 28-years old. The woman and her family were informed of the break in the case last week. She was not specifically named in an announcement on Tuesday and Troopers, Palmer District Attorney’s office, and the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory are asking everyone to respect her privacy.
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