New DNA technology leads to arrest of SoCal man 36 years after violent Oxnard kidnapping

OXNARD, Calif. (KABC) -- A 55-year-old Long Beach man has been arrested and charged with kidnapping in a case that dates back nearly four decades, after newly-analyzed DNA evidence identified him as a suspect, Ventura County authorities said.

Bobby Rollins, Jr. has been charged with kidnapping with intent to commit robbery, with enhancements for allegedly using a firearm, and that the crime involved great violence and the victim was particularly vulnerable when the crime was committed.

"If convicted of all charges and special enhancements, Rollins could be sentenced to life in prison," said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko during a news conference Thursday.

Prosecutors said the victim never believed she would see an arrest.

"In speaking to her yesterday, she told me that she never thought an arrest and prosecution would ever happen," said Nasarenko. "Too much time had passed, she told me. And in her own words, 'I just thought this case was dead'."

The assault occurred in a parking lot in Oxnard on June 11, 1990. Police say the victim was approached by two armed men who pulled her from her car, threw her down a hill, and one of them robbed and sexually assaulted her.

Despite collecting evidence at the time, police were unable to identify the attackers, and the case went cold - though it was never closed.

Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said the preservation of evidence proved critical more than three decades later.

"Because that evidence was carefully maintained for more than 30 years, it was still available when new DNA technology became capable of providing answers that just simply weren't available in 1990," Fryhoff said.

Although prosecutors said the statute of limitations for the alleged sexual assault expired years ago, evidence collected during the investigation of that crime would be key in finding a suspect.

A federal grant funded new testing of the sexual assault kit, which led investigators to a DNA match. Authorities announced that "after more than three decades, the identity of that man has finally been revealed.

The case remains under investigation, and detectives still have yet to identify the other suspect.