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Charlotte man charged in 1996 rape case

By Meghan Cooke
macooke@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Friday, Jun. 15, 2012

A Charlotte man was jailed Thursday after DNA evidence linked him to a 16-year-old rape case.

Bryan Stanley Davis, 53, was arrested Thursday in southwest Charlotte and charged with second-degree rape.

On May 26, 1996, a woman was walking along Interstate 77 when a man approached her “in an aggressive manner,” according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. She tried to run for help in a nearby neighborhood, but the suspect grabbed her and raped her. Then, he fled.

The case went unsolved until the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit reviewed evidence. Investigators said they sent the evidence to CMPD’s crime lab, which found DNA matching that of Davis.

Davis was being held in Mecklenburg jail Thursday under a $75,000 bond.

As of Thursday, the Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit has reviewed nearly 1,000 cases. Of those, 138 cases have been cleared, including 48 cleared by arrests, police said.

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