DNA evidence collected from 2009 has identified a suspect in the rape of a 16-year-old girl two years ago.

May 26, 2009, a 16-year-old girl was sitting on the steps of an apartment building at Arbor Lake Apartments talking with a friend. When that friend turned his back to her, someone put their hand over her mouth and pulled her into a vacant apartment. Once inside, he sexually assaulted her.

The girl knew the man only by the nickname "Snake." When he left she got dressed and went to a friend's house where she spent the night. The next morning she went home and told her parents. She was taken to Newton Medical Center and investigators from the Newton County Sheriff's Office were called to the vacant apartment where they were able to collect evidence.

It was that evidence that eventually led to the arrest of 26-year-old Danta Ray Myles, who lived in the neighborhood behind the teen's apartment complex, at a home on North Greenfield.

The DNA profile was entered into the state's DNA database of convicted felons and investigators waited.

In May 2010 there was a match to Myles who was serving time in Autry State Prison in Pelham for burglary. He was scheduled to be released Aug. 10 and investigators were waiting for him. He was met at the prison and transferred to the Newton County Detention Center where he remains, no bail set, on charges of rape.

Myles has been in prison on a variety of charges, including cruelty to children, obstruction, possession, violation of motor vehicle law, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and robbery.