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4 Years Later, DNA Hit Leads To Arrest, Rape Charge In Bradenton

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By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: June 20, 2008

BRADENTON - Four years ago, a 14-year-old girl who was staying at a motel here on a trip to Key West was abducted and driven off in a car, then raped while the attacker's shirt covered her face.

Manatee County Sheriff's Office detectives say the man threatened to kill the girl's friend, who ran off after the abduction and alerted authorities. A sheriff's helicopter spooked the kidnapper, who released the girl, authorities say.

The girl managed to see the man's face, but only for seconds. The image was not enough for investigators to develop a suspect.

Now they have one.

This year, the sheriff's office got word that DNA evidence from the kidnapper matched a profile in a state law enforcement database.

The DNA hit came in late March, matching Sarasota resident Ira Donald Brown, 28, detectives said. They reopened the investigation to build a case against Brown.

He was arrested Thursday on kidnapping and sexual battery charges and was being held at Manatee County Jail late Thursday.

"It's a good ending," sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said Thursday. He said the victim and her relatives, who live in the Chicago area, were elated. "The family was quite pleased to hear from us."

Advances in DNA technology and the increased use nationwide of DNA samples from criminals are helping authorities solve crimes and in some cases freeing the wrongly accused.

In cases where the authorities do not have a suspect, biological evidence from a crime scene is analyzed and compared with DNA profiles in state and federal databases.

In 1990, Florida began collecting DNA evidence from people convicted of sex crimes. Other crimes were included in subsequent years. Since 2005, all felony offenders in Florida have been required to submit DNA.

Brown's grandfather, Eurith Brown, said Brown's parents are dead. Eurith Brown said his grandson relocated to Florida from New Jersey in the 1990s to live with relatives. The grandfather said he has not heard from his grandson in several years.

Brown, a felon, was sentenced in 2007 to two years of state probation for selling cocaine to an undercover officer.

When he was sentenced in September, Brown gave a DNA sample -- usually an oral swab.

Brown has another felony on his record, battery of a law enforcement officer, from 1999 in Manatee County. He was sentenced to probation in that case. Authorities say he then violated probation twice but was not sent to prison.

Brown did not know the girl he is accused of kidnapping.

She was staying with family at Howard Johnson Express Inn in the 6500 block of 14th Street West. They were on their way to Key West.

Detectives said the girl and an 18-year-old friend were walking back to the hotel about 11:30 p.m. after a meal at Checkers.

Brown, authorities say, was armed with a knife when he approached the girl from behind, put a shirt over her head and dragged her to a car. The friend ran to tell the victim's mother.

The girl was ordered to remove her pants. During the rape, authorities said, the man was spooked by a sheriff's helicopter overhead and let the girl go.

Brown pulled the girl's shirt over her head and told her not to pull it down before he left, according to charging documents. The girl flagged down a deputy.

The girl was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital, where she was examined and evidence was collected.

Authorities say the kidnapping victim identified Brown as her attacker in a photo lineup of men with similar features.

Manatee sheriff's detectives say they did not tell Illinois authorities -- who did the photo lineup -- the name of the suspect and did not identify his position in the lineup.

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