HAMILTON — A DNA sample took more than three years to make its way through the system, but it led to a suspect's indictment this week in a Butler County rape case.

        Charles S. Courtney Jr., 37, of Hamilton, is accused of robbery, kidnapping and three counts of rape in an April 21, 1998, attack on a 21-year-old Hamilton woman in Fairfield. The woman reported she was abducted at a grocery store, raped in the 4900 block of Factory Drive and robbed of her purse.

Courtney

        A DNA sample from that crime arrived at the state crime lab three days later. But it took until November 2001 for the sample to be analyzed and added to the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), where it matched DNA from Mr. Courtney, said Bret Crow, Ohio attorney general's spokesman.

        It was unclear Friday how long Mr. Courtney's DNA had been in CODIS, so it's hard to tell whether faster processing of the Fairfield sample could have led to his arrest sooner.

        “We get to the older, unsolved cases as quickly as we can,” Mr. Crow said, adding that the state crime lab must process DNA cases facing speedy-trial demands first.

        Even so, the Fairfield case shows CODIS is becoming increasingly useful as more samples fill the database, Mr. Crow said. It now contains DNA from 950,000 criminals from 38 states, including Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

        Since February 2001, 24 unsolved Ohio crimes have been matched with offenders' DNA in the state database, Mr. Crow said, but only a handful involved interstate CODIS matches.

        Convicted of sexual battery, Mr. Courtney was released from an Indiana prison seven weeks before the Fairfield rape was reported. He went back to prison in June 2000 for violating probation. At some point, his DNA sample was added to CODIS.

        The Fairfield sample was run through CODIS and “hit” with Mr. Courtney's on Nov. 24, 2001, Mr. Crow said.

        On Dec. 19, Hamilton police arrested him in the 1100 block of B Street on drug charges and on a warrant for the Fairfield crime.

        Mr. Courtney remains in the Butler County Jail. No court date had been set as of Friday.

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