If you’re being investigated for a very serious case such as sexual assault or murder, it’s a great idea to not leave additional personal information on websites, where you can be tracked down. This was the case for 44-year-old James Vaughn, in Tampa, Florida.
According to WRAL.com, Vaughn has been arrested due to a 14-year-old sexual assault case. This is after authorities tracked down his DNA, which was posted to the ancestry website, FamilyTreeDNA. A crime lab was said to have used FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch to match him to the incident, that initially occurred back in 2007.
That night in Florida, a woman was reportedly attacked by Vaughn. This is after she was trying to find a way home. Vaughn was the man who offered a ride.
“It has taken 14 years for resolution in this case, but it’s something that was important to us and was important to the victim, to get some closure in this case,” said Police Chief Ruben Delgado. “That was the whole idea about this squad, to kind of take these cases that haven’t been solved, kind of reenergize them.”
Authorities went on to receive a swab from Vaughn, and that was able to confirm the DNA that was in the ancestry kits. Thankfully, justice was finally served here.
Flip the page for FOX 13 Tampa Bay news coverage of this arrest.