DNA evidence from 2003 kidnapping, rape cold case leads to arrest of Auburn man
AUBURN, Ala. (WRBL) – The Auburn Police said a 75-year-old man was arrested in a 2003 kidnapping and rape case of a juvenile female after DNA evidence connected him to the crime.
Auburn Police arrested Bobby Lee Pitts on multiple felony warrants charging him with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy on Friday.
The investigation, which led to his arrest started on Oct. 4, 2003, after officers met with a minor female victim who reported a sexual assault that happened on Lee Road 57.
The victim told police that the suspect forced her into the nearby woods and sexually assaulted her. At the time of the crime, Auburn Police said a suspect could not be developed based on only physical evidence and a description of the suspect.
The case remained under investigation by Auburn Police cold case investigators who sent evidence to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System. Based on the submissions sent by the investigators, Pitts was developed as a suspect.
In January, the police department said results from a forensic examination were received that identified Pitts as the “offender.”
The case was presented to a Lee County Grand Jury and Pitts was indicted on the charges mentioned above. Warrants were later obtained and Pitts was arrested and taken to the Lee County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond.
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