The suspect is accused in the kidnapping and sexual assault of an eight-year-old child in Plano on Aug. 15, 1991, police said.
DALLAS — An Oklahoma man was arrested in the 1991 kidnapping and sexual assault of a child in Plano, police announced this week.
Nicholas Ray Carney, 64, faces charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to a news release from the Plano Police Department.
Carney was arrested Thursday at his home in Ardmore, Okla., about an hour and a half north of Plano.
Carney is accused in the kidnapping and sexual assault of an eight-year-old child in Plano on Aug. 15, 1991, police said. Two children were walking to a neighborhood pool in the 1700 block of Lake Hill Lane when a man abducted one of the children. The victim, who survived, was later found injured, five hours later in Garland, police said.
In 2023, Plano police began using evidence from the cold case to conduct genetic genealogy research to connect the crime to Carney, according to the release.
Genetic genealogy is the process of using DNA samples from a crime scene and testing them against genealogy databases, where people have uploaded their DNA.
Carney has also been linked to a similar case from Dallas in 1999, “and we have reason to believe there are more victims,” the police news release said.
Anyone with information about Carney or his suspected link to other criminal activity is asked to call the Plano Police Department tip line at 972-941-2148 or email them at policetips@plano.gov.
Plano police thanked several people and agencies for their help in the investigation: the surviving victim, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, the Texas Rangers, Bode Technology, the Dallas Police Department, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, Plano police Detective A. Benzick, and Plano police crime analyst A. Desmond.