KBI made suspect identification with same technology used to crack Golden State Killer case

The Lawrence Police Department announced Tuesday the arrest of a 58-year-old man who they believe sexually assaulted children more than two decades ago, identified through DNA.

David Zimbrick, of Raytown, Missouri, faces charges of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child connected to alleged incidents that occurred in 2000 and 2003. 

All arrestees and defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless they are convicted. These allegations have not been proved in court, and Zimbrick has not yet had a court appearance. 

Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart told media Tuesday that officers were called to Naismith Park on Aug. 25, 2000. He said three kids were riding their bikes on a path in the park when a man asked them to help him find something, and that he’d offered them $20 for help. 

One of the kids told his father about the man, and the father immediately ran down the path yelling for his daughter, Lockhart said. He found the 7-year-old girl in a wooded area, and she told him she’d been sexually assaulted, Lockhart said. 

The girl provided the man’s description and said he’d been smoking a cigarette. 

“Two detectives, including retired Detective Mike McAtee, searched the area where the assault took place and located cigarette butts, one of which was still smoldering,” Lockhart said. “Unknown to the officers at the time, these cigarette butts would become key pieces of evidence.”

Officers took DNA from the cigarette butt, and it was entered into CODIS, the FBI’s DNA database, in 2001 but it never got a hit, Lockhart said. 

On May 23, 2003, two 10-year-old boys were riding their bikes, again in Naismith Park, and the same man approached them asking for their help to find something and offering them $20. 

“The man sent the boys in different directions, and when he had one of the boys out of the sight of the other, he sexually assaulted him,” Lockhart said. 

In that case, “sexual evidence” was collected, Lockhart said. It was entered into CODIS in September 2015, and in January 2016, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation notified LIPD that the DNA from the cigarette butt tied the two cases to the same person. 

In September 2022, the KBI notified Detective Amy Price that they had launched a genetic genealogy unit and they were assisting local agencies with forensic testing to solve cases. 

Through an investigation, police were able to identify Zimbrick’s birth mother. Born in Topeka, Zimbrick had been placed for adoption as a baby, which complicated detectives’ attempts to identify him. The mother said he had reached out to her in the mid-2000s, and she gave detectives his name and phone number. Photos she provided matched the general description of the suspect.

The KBI used technology from Parabon NanoLabs, the same tool that police in California used to identify and arrest the notorious “Golden State Killer.” Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was a former police officer, serial killer and serial rapist who terrorized that state in the 1970s and 1980s.

Parabon uses genetic data to predict the physical traits of a person and generate a composite. It essentially starts with family trees, and in this case, detectives were able to get samples from Zimbrick’s grandparents and parents.

“While this technology is changing outcome for cases, it is not without a cost,” Lockhart said. “One of the samples we submitted to Parabon cost us about $5,000, so it’s something that we have to continue to budget for. But I will tell you, it’s money that I will spend every single day to bring justice to victims of crimes like this.”

Detectives sought a search warrant and collected Zimbrick’s DNA in November of this year. They were notified Dec. 18 that Zimbrick’s DNA was a match to the 2003 case. 

Zimbrick told police he was originally from Lawrence and had attended KU but not received a degree, Lockhart said. 

Lockhart said police had talked with the alleged victims’ families, and he thinks they were relieved. 

“As you can imagine, all of them have dealt with this trauma for almost 26 years,” Lockhart said. 

He said there are three additional cases that have similar suspect descriptions and modes of operating, but there is no physical evidence linking them to Zimbrick. 

“It is likely there are other cases out there, and we hope this investigation will help locate those other cases,” Lockhart said. 

Lockhart credited Detectives Price and Meghan Bardwell with bringing the cases to a conclusion. He also thanked Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis and prosecutor Dave Melton for acting swiftly to bring charges. 

“Charging 20-plus-year-old cases is not easy, and they worked tirelessly to make sure that these cases got charged,” Lockhart said. 

Zimbrick is currently being held at the Jackson County, Missouri jail on $1 million bond, Lockhart said. He will need to be extradited to Kansas. 

“It took us more than two decades to finally find him and put him in a place where he can’t hurt other children,” Lockhart said. “I hope this arrest provides some measure of comfort for these survivors.” 

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a senior at Free State High School. He is also a news photo editor for Free State’s student publication, where he works as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.

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