ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police believe a nearly 35-year-old rape case has been solved through new DNA evidence.
The suspect was located in Jacksonville and police believe he is connected to a sexual battery case from the 1980s that happened in Orlando.
Leslie Hammock is facing a felony charge in connection with what a woman said happened to her on a stretch of East Colonial Drive near Fashion Square Mall in November of 1983.
She told police she was riding her bike home when a man, also on a bike, crashed into her from behind and grabbed her.
The victim said the man held a knife to her throat, forced her to an area behind a business, pushed her to the ground and raped her.
She said the man ran off with her pants and purse, and she had to walk to a nearby gas station for help.
Thirty-four years letter, DNA evidence from swabs taken from the victim has tied Hammock to the crime.
The combined DNA index system, known as Codis, didn’t exist in 1983.
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As investigators recently began working through old rape samples, they got a DNA match in Manatee County, where Hammock has been arrested for similar attacks on women.
Investigators said he used a gun to force a victim into his van where they said he sexually assaulted her and bashed her head into the floor until she lost consciousness.
Hammock served seven years in prison.
Police were able to track down the Orlando victim in Missouri.
Investigators said her account of what happened was consistent with what she told police 34 years ago.
Hammock is being held in jail.