BLOOMINGTON — A man has been charged in connection with a 2019 rape after police were able to match his DNA with evidence collected in an investigation into a separate attack late last year.
Tre Shawn D. Bowling, 23, of Indianapolis, is accused in the two rapes — the first of a 26-year-old woman, and the second of a 76-year-old woman, according to a release from the Bloomington Police Department.
Bloomington police began their investigation on April 29, 2019 after they received a report that a 26-year-old woman had been raped about 11:30 p.m. in an apartment in the 400 block of East Second Street.
The woman reported a man had followed her into the building from Second and Grant Streets and grabbed her from behind as she approached a stairwell. He then choked her to the point of unconsciousness, according to the release.
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She later regained consciousness and the man raped her in the stairwell, then fled the scene.
DNA evidence was collected and compared to samples in the FBI's national DNA database, but there was no matching profile at the time, the release states.
Bloomington police were later notified on Jan. 12 that DNA evidence from that investigation matched evidence in the September 2021 rape of an elderly woman in Indianapolis, of which Bowling was a suspect.
That victim was on a walk when she was attacked. Bowling was arrested after he was discovered running from the scene.
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Bowling faces four counts of rape and one each of kidnapping and strangulation in the 2019 attack and one count of rape in the September attack.
Police Chief Michael Diekhoff commended investigators' efforts and expressed condolences for both victims.
"I sincerely appreciate the hard work of investigators from both BPD and IMPD, as their combined efforts have removed a very dangerous man from the streets of our cities. My thoughts are with the victims and my hope is that these arrests can bring them some relief knowing that the suspect is no longer walking free," Diekhoff said in a written statement.
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