JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – DNA evidence led Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives to arrest three men in the Oct. 9, 2009, beating and rape of a woman who was riding her bicycle in Riverside.
The crime happened on Goodwin Street. The victim made her way to a Park Street business, where police were called.
Detectives collected evidence and canvassed for witnesses, but no match was found in the DNA database at that time. With no other leads, the case went cold and was suspended.
Last December, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement notified JSO they had found a match: Stanley Armitage, 20, whose DNA entered the national database after his arrest and sentencing for an armed robbery in Oregon.
Detectives went to Oregon in January and arrested Armitage (on left in photos) for kidnapping and sexual battery.
The Sheriff's Office says he implicated the two other men, Martin King, also 20, and Rakeem Mitchner, 24, who were arrested locally in February and March, respectively.
Armitage and King were 15 years old at the time of the rape. All three of those arrested are being held without bond in the Duval County jail.
Joanna Spencer had just moved to Riverside when the crime happened. Since then, she has always watched her surroundings and kept her dog close by. She said there is some relief in the three arrests.
"It's a good thing to know that they are off the streets. Hopefully they are the one's that are responsible and they won't be doing this to anyone else."
Tommy Hobin remembers how the community reacted as investigators searched for the people responsible.
"It was only a block away so it was a really big deal for us. There were posters in the area so it was really a big deal that someone was caught."