Accused rapist arrested after 22 years thanks to DNA analysis: Police

April 19, 2022, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Neubrandenburg: The handcuffs of the main defendant in the vigilante justice trial lie on a chair in the courtroom of the regional court. According to the prosecution, the defendants, one defendant and three defendants, are accused of having taken the law into their own hands and severely mistreated a neighbor of the woman in February 2021 and then abducted her to a military bunker. Photo: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa (Photo by Bernd Wüstneck/picture alliance via Getty Images)

(KRON) – According to Oakley Police, Eric Ferguson was arrested for a sexual assault that occurred in 2002.

In early May, Oakley Police received a notification from the Combine DNA Index System (CODIS) regarding a possible DNA match from a 2002 kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor. The police department then coordinated its investigation with the U.S. Marshals Service and a detective from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

The suspect was identified as 49-year-old Eric Ferguson, currently residing in Rathdrum, Idaho. Ferguson lived in eastern Contra Costa County at the time of the rape.

On May 12, Oakley investigators, along with the United States Marshals Service, Coeur d’Alene Police Department and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, traveled to Idaho to execute a search warrant for DNA collection in Ferguson in connection with this case.

Oakley Police investigators returned to the Bay Area to ask the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office lab to compare samples from the search warrant and the original case. According to Oakley Police, Ferguson’s DNA was a direct match to DNA collected in 2002.

A judge signed a formal complaint filed against Ferguson on May 16. That same day, authorities involved deployed their SWAT team to arrest Ferguson.

Ferguson was arrested and booked into the Contra Costa County Jail on charges of rape of an incompetent person, forcible oral sex, and kidnapping for the purpose of rape.