MARION COUNTY, Fla. – DNA findings have linked a 28-year-old Ocala man to the rape of a 13-year-old girl nine years after the alleged crime took place.
Investigators with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Devardrick Bell followed the girl home from a walk in October of 2011, forced her into her father’s bedroom and raped her. The girl was able to arm herself with a knife during the battery, prompting Bell to flee the home.
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Deputies said after Bell left, the victim was able to locate the condom he used in the attack and put it in a plastic baggie. It was later processed for DNA and the results were stored in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s CODIS system.
No matches were ever reported until earlier this month, after DNA Bell recently provided during a drug-related arrest matched with the sample collected from the condom in 2011, according to investigators.
A warrant was obtained for his arrest and Bell was taken into custody Friday after turning himself in, deputies said. Bell is being held without bond on one count of sexual battery of a juvenile, deputies said.