DNA search warrant leads to rape arrest in Kansas cold case 17 years later

Kansas law enforcement officers have made a rape arrest following a breakthrough in a cold case from 17 years ago.

Pernell A. Mack, 35, of Topeka, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated criminal sodomy and rape, Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill said in a news release. The arrest came after an unrelated case led to the collection of Mack’s DNA, which happened to match DNA evidence from an old sheriff’s office rape case.

The match came from a 2003 rape case where the victim was 23 years old. That case went inactive after the investigators collected DNA evidence and followed their leads, Hill said.

The sheriff’s office was notified of the match in February and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported Mack was a new lead. The match came after a Topeka Police Department case from fall 2019 required Mack to submit his DNA. The sheriff’s office then obtained a search warrant for Mack’s DNA, leading to his arrest.

The investigation is ongoing, and investigators ask anyone with information on the case to call 785-251-2200.