DNA helps Durham police make arrest in 1991 rape

Tuesday, August 22, 2023
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- More than 30 years after a woman's Durham home was broken into and she was raped, police say they have arrested the man responsible.

Durham Police Department's Cold Case Unit announced Tuesday it had arrested 60-year-old Kenneth Lunsford on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and attempted first-degree sexual offense.
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Investigators said Lunsford was the man who broke into a home at the intersection of Clarendon Street and Green Street on July 27, 1991. Once inside, he sexually assaulted the woman living there.

Police were finally able to match Lunsford's DNA with evidence from a sexual assault kit taken shortly after the crime took place. DPD said the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative helped them match up the DNA.


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Lunsford is being held in the Durham County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
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