HOLLAND — Nearly 24 years after a brutal sexual assault in the Town of Holland, Jamie Dodge, 48, of Brownville, Maine, has been arrested and charged with aggravated rape and kidnapping, thanks to advances in forensic genetic genealogy.
Dodge was apprehended on May 7 after a Hampden County Grand Jury indictment and was arraigned this morning in Hampden County Superior Court, where bail was set at $250,000.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 11.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni hailed the arrest as a significant achievement for law enforcement in the county, noting that this case marks the first instance in Hampden where forensic investigative genetic genealogy has led to an arrest.
Gulluni expressed his gratitude to the Unresolved Cases Unit, Assistant District Attorney Beth Dunphy Farris, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Thomas Sullivan, Cassidy Seaver, and victim witness advocate Deb Chieco for their commitment to this case.
On July 23, 2000, Holland Police Department officers received a report of a sexual assault on Sand Hill Road just before noon.
The adult female victim was attacked from behind, dragged off the road, and sexually assaulted in the woods by an unknown white male.
Despite an exhaustive search and investigation, no suspect was identified at the time.
A breakthrough came in March 2001 when forensic testing revealed an unknown male DNA profile from the evidence, which was entered into the CODIS national database.
For decades, there was no match until renewed efforts by the Hampden District Attorney’s Office led to contracting Parabon Nanolabs for advanced DNA analysis, which eventually produced the lead that identified Dodge as the suspected assailant.
