Police announce man’s arrest in 2004 cold case rape

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016 | 7 p.m.

Authorities have arrested a man whose DNA matches that found in a 1998 homicide and a 2004 rape, according to Metro Police, who are crediting the breakthrough to recent efforts to process backlogged evidence.

Brandon McGuire, 42, was arrested today by a task force and booked in one case on two counts of sexual assault and one count of kidnapping, jail logs show. The homicide investigation is ongoing.

In 2004, a woman accepted a ride from McGuire who took her to Mount Charleston where police said she was sexually assaulted at knifepoint.

Four years ago, forensic-lab investigators linked the DNA found in the homicide and sexual assault, police said.

On Monday, cold case detectives, who had recently been assigned the cases, put a name to the evidence when they processed it through a database, police said.

"This case serves as an example of the success of the cold case project, and we expect similar results in the future," Metro said.

Lawmakers last year agreed to allocate $3.68 million in grant money to test about 7,500 sexual assault evidence kits that sat in vaults throughout the state dating back to 30 years, the Associated Press reported in December.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt's office last week announced that it had secured an additional nearly $2 million in grants to help reduce the kit testing backlog.