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Denver's Cold Case Project Strikes Again, Sex Assault Suspect Charged

DENVER (CBS4 ) - A 40-year-old man has been formally charged in connection with a cold case kidnapping and sexual assault case.

According to Lynn Kimbrough with the district attorney's office, Markie Lee Peoples is charged with kidnapping and sexual assault on a child.

"The charges allege that Peoples kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in March, 1995, after offering the victim and her friends a ride," Kimbrough said in a statement.

A group of young girls met a stranger near the intersection of 8th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard and he would later offer them a ride home, but instead he and several other young men drove them to an apartment near 2nd Avenue and Sherman Street in Denver. According to court records, one of the girls, just 14 years old, was sexually assaulted by the stranger.

Kimbrough said the case was reviewed in 2004 in an attempt to collect DNA with new technology but there wasn't enough evidence to develop a DNA profile. But last June the case was reviewed again with newer technology at the Denver Crime Lab and a DNA profile was able to be developed. It was then submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

"Earlier this month the Denver Police Department was notified of a match, identifying Peoples as a suspect," Kimbrough said.

"It's more sensitive, we're getting more information and it's actually cheaper than it was even 8 years ago," Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.

The charges are the result of work by Denver's Cold Case Project.

"The idea of giving them some closure, to have them actually know who it is that did this to them," Morrissey said. "It's often strangers, it's very significant."

Peoples was released from custody on a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 27.

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