DNA closes 20-year-old rape case

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers report DNA evidence has allowed them to solve a 20-year-old rape and abduction case.

Troopers identified the suspect as Brooks E. Jackson, who died in 2006.

According to a trooper press statement released Tuesday, on Feb. 7, 1991, an 8-year-old girl was taken from a bus stop near her home at Mile 3.5 Fairview Loop. A man forced her into a pickup, drove a short distance, took her into a home and sexually assaulted her. Two and a half hours later she was dropped off on Vine Road.

Frontiersman accounts at the time say temperatures then were below freezing. The girl found help at a nearby home. Troopers say they spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours trying to find the man, but came up short.

Frontiersman accounts at the time describe an effort to find the attacker that included air and ground searches and passing fliers out to utility workers and others who might spend a lot of time in the area.

The case seemed to grab attention for about a month after it was reported.

A computer-generated sketch of the suspect was widely distributed, but details were hazy. The girl only got glimpses of the suspect — a white male with a beard and collar-length hair — his pickup — possibly a Toyota, gray or silver with a maroon stripe — and his home — a plywood structure with burled posts supporting the roof.

Then the case went cold until September 2010, when the state’s crime lab reported it had matched DNA in the case to a sample of Jackson’s DNA it had on file. Since then, troopers have been looking for corroborating evidence to go along with the DNA match.

Jackson’s DNA went into the system in 2005 when he was convicted of drug misconduct for growing marijuana in his house. Submitting the DNA sample was a requirement of his felony conviction.

Six days after he gave the sample, and before the sample had even made it to the crime lap, troopers report, Jackson’s family found him dead. He’d committed suicide.

His obituary at the time said that Jackson was a carpenter who enjoyed fishing, playing cards and shooting pool.

Troopers say the federal DNA database into which Jackson’s DNA was entered contains 9.8 million samples.

Troopers say Jackson’s DNA was a perfect match.

After the match was made troopers continued investigating, talking to Jackson’s family and friends, trying to figure out where he lived in 1991 and what vehicles he drove. They came up short.

“Although the Alaska State Troopers have not been able to find a vehicle or residence with a porch described by the 8-year-old girl, Brooks’ DNA explicitly ties him to the case,” according to a trooper press statement.

Had he not committed suicide, troopers report, criminal charges could have been brought since there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault.

Troopers say the case is now closed.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.