TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida man is behind bars after a genealogy DNA match led investigators to the suspect in a 2007 sexual battery cold case.
On January 27, 2007, an unknown male, offered to assist the victim in getting home, where she was then sexually battered.
DNA collected at the time of the sexual battery did not match a known offender or any other previously investigated cases.
In March 2020, this case was re-examined to assess the potential utilization of genetic genealogy testing to identify a suspect.
In April 2020, the DNA evidence was re-submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for the purpose of conducting a familial search. In July 2020, it was determined the familial search failed to yield a match, and DNA evidence would be isolated from the original sexual battery kit to be forwarded to Parabon NanoLabs for a genetic genealogy search.
In January 2021, Parabon NanoLabs, having utilized GEDmatch and FamilyTree DNA databases, completed their investigative genetic genealogy analysis and provided a report to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Tampa police who used this information to continue their investigation into the case.
In March 2021, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement advised that a possible suspect had been identified as 44-year-old Jared T. Vaughn.
A probable cause DNA search warrant was obtained to gather buccal swabs from Jared Vaughn. The probable cause was passed along to a detective in Parkersburg West Virginia who agreed to assist in this case by authoring a warrant in that jurisdiction.
On April 26th, 2021, Tampa Police Detectives met with the Parkersburg Police investigator in West Virginia, and the warrant authored in that jurisdiction was approved by the magistrate. Detectives met with Jared Vaughn at his residence and served the warrant by collecting his buccal swab.
On May 5th, 2021 buccal swabs collected from Jared Vaughn were submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab in Tampa for comparison to DNA evidence in this case.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory report dated May 13th, 2021 indicates Vaughn’s DNA matched the DNA evidence from 2007, with the DNA profile being greater than 700 billion times more likely to occur if the sample originated from Jared Vaughn than from an unrelated individual.
On June 16, 2021 Vaughn surrendered himself to the Orient Road Jail on the charge of sexual battery.
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