BOCA RATON – Boca Raton police have used DNA evidence to arrest a suspect in a 21-year-old sexual assault case.
After receiving a warrant, Boca Raton detectives recently arrested John Leonard McKenzie, 59, of Boynton Beach on a charge of armed sexual battery and armed burglary with battery.
The crime happened on March 15, 1989, said police.
It was about 3:15 in the afternoon and the victim had just finished washing her car in the parking lot of her apartment complex ON NW 4 Avenue.
She returned to her apartment, leaving the door open. A few minutes later, as she was in the kitchen, she turned around and was confronted by an intruder. He was a male about 6” tall and armed with a large knife. The suspect grabbed the victim and led her to the living room, where he closed the door.
The suspect then led the victim to the bedroom, where he made her take off her bathing suit. While she was trying to take off her top, the suspect used the knife to cut it off, cutting the victim in the process. The suspect then sexually battered the victim. When the suspect was finished, he ran out of the apartment.
At the time of the offense, Boca Raton officers, detectives, and Crime Scene Technicians conducted an exhaustive investigation, which included processing the crime scene and collecting evidence, canvassing the neighborhood, interviewing the victim and witnesses, and compiling a composite sketch of the suspect. However, a viable suspect never emerged and the case went cold.
On June 28, 2006, an evidence custodian for Boca Raton police, while reviewing evidence from cold cases, submitted the sexual battery exam kit to the Palm Beach County lab for analysis. On July 29, 2010, detectives received information from PBSO that the FBI had matched the suspect’s DNA profile.
On August 30, 2010, detectives received the official report from PBSO which stated that while searching the National Convicted Offender Database, the suspect’s DNA profile matched convicted offender John Leonard McKenzie.