Police: DNA links suspect to 2008 assault

Austin police have filed charges in a 2008 sexual assault after DNA evidence linked a 37-year-old Houston man to the crime.

The suspect, Lloyd Tyrone Robinson, is facing charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault. Investigators say he abducted a woman in downtown Austin on Oct. 12, 2008, took her to a hotel and assaulted her, an arrest affidavit said.

Police have not apprehended Robinson and are searching for him, police said.

On the night of the incident, the victim had been walking to Fourth Street to hail a taxi at about 2:30 a.m. when a man in a white Chrysler 300 drove by her and made a sexually derogatory comment. The woman kept walking when the vehicle returned, this time stopping in front of her, the affidavit said.

The driver, a man later identified as Robinson, exited the car, grabbed the woman and forced her into the car, the affidavit said. He then took her to a hotel, where he assaulted her, it said.

Robinson took her from the hotel room and began driving her to a different location, according to the document. While stopped at a red light at the intersection of East St. Johns Avenue and the Interstate 35 frontage road, the woman jumped out of the car and flagged down a passerby, the affidavit said.

The bystander called 911 and the woman was taken to St. Davids Medical Center, where a sexual assault forensic nurse examined her and obtained DNA samples, the affidavit said.

Police obtained DNA from Robinson in 2009 and initial samples from the victims forensic exam linked him to the crime in 2009, the affidavit said. They later obtained additional DNA samples from Robinson in 2013. On May 15, tests again determined his DNA matched samples from the victims forensic exam, the affidavit said.

Despite the woman describing her attacker as a black male, the document said that police investigated a Hispanic male they believed could be the suspect when they found his vehicle, which matched the victims description, at the hotel. That mans DNA was tested in 2009, 2012 and 2013, but he was never linked to the attack.

Police did not comment as to the length of time between the incident and charges being filed Wednesday. An official said that information could jeopardize their ability to catch Robinson.

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Police: DNA links suspect to 2008 assault