CHARLOTTE (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — Investigators have arrested a 49-year-old man for an attempted sexual assault that occurred in 1998 in Charlotte of a then 48-year-old woman.
According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, David Earl Allen was arrested in Sacramento, California and has since been extradited to Mecklenburg County, charged with first degree kidnapping and second degree attempted rape.
Investigators say the crime occurred on October 16, 1998 when the victim reported to police that a then-unknown suspect (Allen, who was 27 at the time) pushed her to the ground and attempted to sexually assault her. The victim was treated at a nearby hospital and a sexual assault kit was completed.
The case went cold for several years until 2004, when a DNA profile was obtained from the original evidence collected in 1998. Detectives with the CMPD Cold Case Unit were alerted about a DNA match in 2020 after Allen had been arrested in Michigan for an unrelated crime. After a lab review, DNA confirmed that Allen was the culprit and warrants were issued for his arrest.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to leave it anonymously with CMPD Crime Stoppers at (704) 334-1600 or by clicking here.