Volusia County deputies have arrested a suspect in Vero Beach in connection to a cold rape case that occurred on Sept. 14, 2008 in Ormond Beach.
- Suspect arrested in cold rape case from 2008
- Detectives used DNA testing to find suspect
- Shuman, 41, is a registered sex offender
“My detectives were able to contact this woman in another state and tell her that the person who physically violated you, raped you, we know who he is, and we are going to arrest him," said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
Adam Gregory Shuman, 41, is charged with sexual battery. He is accused of sexually assaulting a 47-year-old woman along State Road A1A, according to a news release.
“A guy in a vehicle approaches her multiple times, 'come on I want to take you for a ride, ya know I am into older women.' And eventually he blocks her path with her car, and eventually he gets her in a secluded place as she is trying to get back to the house, and he physically takes her onto the dunes of the beach and assaults her," Chitwood said.
Physical evidence from the woman’s forensic exam in the Sheriff’s Office evidence unit was finally tested after a push from the state Attorney General’s Office in 2015 to ease sexual assault evidence kits backlog.
In October 2017, a DNA match was made. Detectives then reopened the case and tracked down and arrested Shuman with help from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
“No witnesses, it’s dark out, all we have is DNA," Chitwood said. “We don’t give up, we will never give up, and neither will science.”
Shuman is a registered sex offender from 1998.
He is being held at the Indian River County Jail on $50,000 bond. He will face a judge at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.