Cold Case Breakthrough Links Two Child Assaults After 33 Years

Decades-Old Cases Connected Through DNA

Two horrific child assault cases from the 1990s that haunted North Texas communities for decades have finally been solved through cutting-edge genetic genealogy technology. Detective DeAngelis from Dallas Police and Detective Benzick from Plano Police used forensic investigative genetic genealogy to identify Nicholas Carney, connecting a 1991 Plano case to an unsolved Dallas case .

The first case occurred on August 15, 1991, when an 8-year-old girl was kidnapped while walking to a community pool in Plano. The child was held for several hours and sexually assaulted before being released about 20 miles from her home . A DNA profile developed in 2004 matched an unsolved case in Dallas involving a 9-year-old child who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted before being released approximately 40 miles away from her home .

Despite extensive efforts by the Plano Police Department, the case went cold. Evidence collected in the case was preserved and later analyzed by the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences . For years, both victims and their families lived without answers, watching as leads dried up and hope faded.

Modern Technology Revives Cold Investigation

In 2023, Plano Detective Benzick came across a newspaper article about the case and reached out to Dallas Detective DeAngelis. After discussing the case, they decided to put in the hard work required to solve it using Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy . This breakthrough technique represents a new frontier in criminal investigations, allowing detectives to trace family connections through DNA databases.

The technique required Detective Benzick to interview countless individuals and obtain numerous DNA profiles to develop a suspect. At the same time, Detective DeAngelis had to work through massive amounts of evidence collected from the offense to find viable sources of suspect DNA . On October 19, 2024, Bode Technology found a possible family tree for the suspect, including his mother and a brother who died in a Utah prison while serving a life sentence for murder. One of the people in that family tree was Nicholas Carney .

Plano detectives tracked Carney to an address in Ardmore, Oklahoma, took trash they saw him place into a dumpster, and submitted DNA evidence from cigarette butts and soda cans for testing. The samples were a match to the cold case suspect .

Justice Served, Investigation Continues

The Collin County District Attorney's Office announced that jurors found Carney guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and returned a life sentence. Nicholas Carney received life after forensic genetic genealogy and DNA linked him to child abductions and assaults in Plano and Dallas in the 1990s . Detective DeAngelis was awarded the Super Sleuth Award during the annual Collin County Crime Victims Luncheon on April 22, 2026 .

Despite the conviction and life sentence, Plano police and partnering agencies say their work is not done. The investigation remains active, and authorities believe there could be additional victims . Detectives are piecing together Carney's history, described as having a transient lifestyle, with ties to California, Minnesota, Georgia, Oklahoma and several counties in Texas. Carney worked odd jobs from a door-to-door vacuum salesman, a satellite installer, and an ice cream truck man in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1980 .

Hope for Other Families

When detectives first started working these cases, the victims had already given up hope they would ever be solved. However, thanks to the outstanding investigative work of Dallas and Plano detectives, the cases were officially put to rest . Neighborhood residents said they were happy there might finally be justice in the case. "It's pretty wonderful that they can solve this and get us some closure," one longtime resident said .

The successful resolution of these decades-old cases demonstrates how modern forensic technology can breathe new life into investigations that seemed hopeless. As genetic genealogy techniques become more sophisticated and accessible, cold case units across the country are finding renewed success in bringing closure to families who thought they would never see justice. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Plano Police Department tip line, and detectives have urged people in Dallas, Plano, and surrounding communities to revisit old reports and reach out if they recall suspicious encounters from the 1990s .