A 35-year-old Davenport man is in custody after law enforcement allege DNA is connected to a sexual assault from 2008.
Samuel Thompson faces a felony charge of second-degree sexual abuse, court records show.
On Nov. 23, 2008, Davenport Police received a report of a sexual assault in the area of the 2200 block of Rockingham Road, according to arrest affidavits.
The victim told police that while she was leaving Vivian’s, she was sucker-punched and put in the back of a car. She then was driven to an unknown street/driveway, where two people took turns sexually assaulting her, she told police.
On Jan. 31, 2018, Davenport Police submitted the sexual assault kit as part of the SAKI (The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative) Project.
On Sept. 20, 2023, Davenport Police received notification from DCI of a CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) hit on the male DNA located in the sexual assault kit submitted in this case. The CODIS hit was for the co-defendant in this case, according to affidavits.
A known sample of the co-defendant’s DNA was resubmitted to the DCI on Jan. 11, 2024, “and a confirmation was received that the CODIS hit is in fact the co-defendant,” according to affidavits. This was on Jan. 30, 2024, affidavits show.
What is the SAKI Program?
The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) provides funding through a competitive grant program to support the jurisdictional reform of approaches to sexual assault cases resulting from evidence found in sexual assault kits (SAKs) that have never been submitted to a crime laboratory.
SAKI, according to its website, is administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and aims to create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to sexual assault cases through a comprehensive and victim-centered approach, jurisdictional capacity building to prevent high numbers of unsubmitted SAKs in the future, and supporting the investigation and prosecution of cases for which SAKs were previously unsubmitted.
What is CODIS?
CODIS is an acronym for Combined DNA Index System, which is a computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons.
Thompson, who is being held in Scott County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond after he was arrested Friday on a warrant, is set for a preliminary hearing Feb. 20 in Scott County Court.
