FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Nearly three decades after a rape case in Fort Wayne that went cold, the suspect pleaded guilty.

David Kerner, 56, was arrested earlier this year once DNA evidence finally linked him to the investigation. His plea deal, filed Monday, calls for a 30-year prison sentence.

Kerner is accused of attacking a woman on a trail near the boat ramp in Shoaff Park back in 1997. Investigators determined she was raped and beaten at knifepoint.

The Fort Wayne Police Department said it wasn't until 2024 that the rape kit was sent out for DNA testing. Although it wasn't clear why the kit hadn't been sent out sooner in the investigation, an officer who spoke with WANE 15 earlier this year said the guidelines for submitting evidence for testing were much stricter decades prior.

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