Texas police use genetic genealogy and DNA evidence to solve 1991 cold case

By Steven Rosenbaum

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    PLANO, Texas (KTVT) — A North Texas police department used genetic genealogy technology, similar to what’s used in over-the-counter ancestry tests, alongside DNA evidence to find a suspect in a 33-year-old cold case.

Plano Police have arrested 64-year-old Nicholas Ray Carney in Ardmore, Oklahoma, for allegedly abducting and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old child in 1991.

The 1991 Plano cold case On August 15, 1991, police say the victim was walking with another child to a neighborhood pool just before 6 p.m. in the alley behind Lake Hill Lane, near Tree House Lane and Country Place Drive. A man got out of his car and asked for help finding his lost dog, then grabbed the victim and forced the child into his car.

Police said the man sexually assaulted the minor, who turned up in Garland about five hours later. Police issued a description and a sketch of the suspect, but he was never found.

In 2004, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences at Dallas tested evidence from the case for DNA and found a match to a 1999 case from Dallas in which a 9-year-old was abducted and sexually assaulted. A sketch and description from the Dallas case were similar, as well. Still, there was no progress in identifying the suspect.

In May 2023, a Plano PD detective started investigating the department’s cold cases to see if genetic genealogy, a relatively new tool, could produce new leads.

Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing combined with traditional genealogical methods to trace family relationships, identify ancestors, or confirm familial connections. Genealogy tests are over-the-counter products that can easily be purchased online or in retail stores. Companies like 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, and others sell these DNA test kits.

The department worked with the Texas Rangers to submit evidence preserved from the 1991 and 1999 cases to an outside laboratory through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which works to clear the backlog of thousands of DNA samples linked to unknown suspects.

A family tree connection leads to a suspect in Oklahoma On October 19, 2024, Bode Technology, the forensic firm that tested the DNA, found a possible family tree for the suspect, including his mother and a brother who died in a Utah prison while serving a life sentence for murder.

One of the people in that family tree was Nicholas Carney, police said.

Detectives discovered that the Garland Police Department had run Carney’s name in November of 1991 for an unknown reason. They also found that he lived in Dallas in 1999, just 1.2 miles away from where the second victim was abducted. A 1996 drivers license photo also resembled the police sketches from both cases.

Last month, Plano PD tracked Carney to an address in Ardmore, Oklahoma, which is about 100 miles north of Dallas.

Detectives took trash they saw Carney place into a dumpster and submitted DNA evidence from cigarette butts and soda cans for testing. The samples were a match to the cold case suspect.

Detectives arrested Carney on Thursday, and he is currently being held in the Carter County, Oklahoma jail. Plano PD said there may be other victims, and ask anyone with information to call the department’s tip line at 972-941-2148 or email policetips@plano.gov.

In a statement to CBS News Texas, the Dallas Police Department acknowledged the case and said its investigation is ongoing. The Collin County District Attorney’s Office referred questions to the Plano Police Department.

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