DNA leads to suspect after 19 years, FBI says

DNA leads to suspect after 19 years, FBI says


Jennifer Schuett remembers small details of the night she was abducted, raped and her throat slashed at age 8.

(CNN) -- A suspect has been arrested in the 1990 abduction and attempted murder of an 8-year-old Texas girl, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston, Texas, office said.

The victim, Jennifer Schuett, is now 27. She recently shared her story with CNN in hopes of someday bringing her attacker to justice.

Schuett will speak at a news conference announcing the arrest at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.

Dennis Earl Bradford was arrested at 6:50 a.m. Tuesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, after DNA and other forensic testing led to him, authorities said. His name has not been released, she added.

Dunlap thanked CNN for publicizing the story and said investigators "received lots of tips and good reaction." But advances in forensic testing led directly to the arrest, she said.

Schuett was abducted from her bedroom, raped and left for dead August 10,1990. She spoke with CNN two weeks ago.

CNN normally does not identify victims of sexual assaults. But Schuett decided to go public with her story -- and her name -- to increase the chances of finding and prosecuting her attacker.

"It's not about me anymore," she told CNN in September. "It's about all the little girls that go to sleep at night. I know there are so many girls out there who have been raped and hurt. You have to fight back."

"I remember everything; I've always wanted to remember everything so I can find the person that did this," Schuett said. "If I had blocked this out of my memory, the investigation wouldn't have come this far. I'm a fighter."

Schuett says she was alone in her bed when a man crept in through a window. She remembers waking up in a stranger's arms as he carried her across a dark parking lot.

She said he told her he was an undercover cop and knew her family.

He drove her through the streets of Dickinson, Texas, pulling into a mechanic's shop next to her elementary school.

"Watch the moon. The moon will change colors, and that is when your mom will come to get you," she recalled him saying. "Oh, it looks like she is not coming."

Schuett said he drove her to an overgrown field next to the school and sexually assaulted her.

She passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was lying naked on top of an ant hill with her throat slashed from ear to ear, and her voice box torn.

She was found at 6 p.m. on a hot August day after lying in the field for nearly 12 hours. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

"Three days after the attack, I started giving a description. The doctors told me I would never be able to talk again, but I proved them all wrong," Schuett said. She believes she got her voice back so she could tell her story.

Houston FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison is one of the lead investigators in the case, along with Dickinson police Detective Tim Cromie.

Both men were discussing the case when Rennison received a memo from the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team seeking child abduction cases that had gone cold and could be retested for DNA evidence. Schuett's was one of the cases selected.

Rennison, who has 10 years of experience in child abduction cases, said he has never seen a case like Schuett's.

"This is the only one that I can think of that the victim has suffered some traumatic injuries and survived," he said, "The main reason the CARD team picked this case was because she was alive. In cases of child abduction, it is rare that the child is recovered alive. Frequently, you recover a body. And most times, you never find them."

The investigators found evidence collected 19 years ago, which was retested. It included the underwear and pajamas Schuett was wearing, as well as a man's underwear and T-shirt, which were found in the field where Schuett was left for dead.

The clothes were tested in 1990, but the sample wasn't large enough for conclusive results. But now, modern techniques allow DNA to be isolated from a single human cell.

They were still awaiting the results when CNN featured Schuett's story in late September.


One night 20 years ago, Jennifer Schuett, age 8, went to sleep in her Texas bedroom -- and awoke to find a stranger carrying her across a parking lot, she told CNN. He raped her, slit her throat and left her for dead. But she didn't die. "I never wanted to play the victim role," Schuett, above, now 27, told CNN in a story published Monday. "I wanted to be a strong survivor."


Here, a young Schuett poses in a hospital room. A federal child abduction team tasked with re-examining cold cases chose Schuett's because she was able to survive. "In cases of child abduction, it is rare that the child is found alive," Houston FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison told CNN. Authorities are waiting for the results of new DNA tests on evidence from the crime scene.


This is a composite sketch of the rapist. "Three days after the attack, I started giving a description. The doctors told me I would never be able to talk again, but I proved them all wrong," said Schuett. She believes she got her voice back so she could tell her story.


Schuett said she remembered every detail of the night so she could help bring her attacker to justice. She appeared on the television show 'America's Most Wanted.' Her story aired on Sept. 12. Here, she sits with host John Walsh. (Source: CNN)

What an amazing young woman! What happened to her is absolutely heart wrenching. I'm SOO happy that she handled things the way she did. This young woman is one of the bravest people I have ever heard about. I saw her on HLN stating that she is "Not a victim but victorious!"

Jennifer definitely is an amazing woman. I'm glad they found her attacker after all these years so she can finally get justice.