The suspect waived extradition after a Dec. 29 arrest in Missouri; court dates in Kansas are pending.
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A Missouri man charged in two child sexual assaults from 2000 and 2003 has been returned to Kansas and booked into the Douglas County Jail, authorities said Thursday. The arrest followed a DNA match developed from evidence saved at a Lawrence park more than two decades ago.
Police and the Douglas County district attorney said the case advanced this week from an interstate arrest to local custody, setting up the first court appearance. The man, identified by officials as David James Zimbrick, 58, of Raytown, faces one count of rape and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy tied to separate incidents at Naismith Valley Park. He was arrested Dec. 29 by U.S. Marshals and initially held in Jackson County, Missouri, on a $1 million bond before waiving extradition. Prosecutors said an initial appearance in Douglas County District Court will be scheduled, with formal advisements and a timeline to follow.
Investigators credited a meticulous chain of custody and multiple rounds of testing for the breakthrough. In the Aug. 25, 2000 case, a 7-year-old reported being assaulted after a man offered $20 to help look for a lost item; retired Detective Mike McAtee collected several cigarette butts near the scene, one still smoldering, that later yielded a DNA profile. On May 23, 2003, two 10-year-old boys reported a similar approach in the same park; one boy was assaulted after the suspect separated the children. DNA from that incident was later processed, and in 2016, state analysts linked it to the cigarette-butt DNA from 2000. “Somebody probably thought they got away with it,” Police Chief Rich Lockhart said. “Eventually we are going to catch up to you.”
Detective Amy Price began exploring forensic genetic genealogy in 2018, citing national cases that used the method. Price secured funding—one advanced test cost about $5,000—and sent evidence to Parabon NanoLabs, which reported successful genotyping in March 2020. Working with Detective Meghan Bardwell and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s genealogy unit in 2022, investigators built out potential family trees. The search led to the suspect’s biological mother in New Mexico and adoption records that, detectives said, clarified the identity they were seeking. In November, officers obtained a court order to collect a DNA swab from Zimbrick at the Raytown Police Department; on Dec. 18, KBI scientists advised detectives that his DNA matched the 2003 case, which had already been tied to the 2000 evidence.
Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis said the current charges reflect the evidence available in the two charged cases. Officials said there are other historical reports with similar details—approaching children in groups, offering cash, sending them in different directions—but those incidents either lack testable DNA or may fall outside the statute of limitations if no biological evidence exists. Police said the charged assaults occurred in Naismith Valley Park, a greenbelt along a creek near 1400 W. 27th Street, and involved children between seven and ten years old. Authorities said they believe additional victims are possible but have not confirmed any.
The announcement capped a long sequence of tests and dead ends. Evidence from the 2000 assault was entered into the national DNA database in 2001, without a hit. Evidence from 2003 was entered in 2015; the 2016 link between the two cases confirmed they involved the same unknown person but did not identify him. Detectives said the genealogy work—identifying relatives, following adoption records, and interviewing family—finally put a name to the profile. Police credited McAtee for preserving the cigarette evidence; Price and Bardwell for carrying the case through lab backlogs, funding requests, and new technology; and KBI scientists for the final confirmation.
After the Dec. 29 arrest in Raytown, the suspect was held in Missouri while prosecutors initiated extradition. A Jackson County judge reviewed the paperwork this week; Zimbrick waived his rights to contest the transfer and was moved to Kansas, where jail records list him in Douglas County custody. Loomis said the case will proceed through early hearings and standard discovery. Future dates could include motions on the admission of genetic genealogy evidence and chain-of-custody testimony, common issues when decades-old evidence is at the center of a prosecution.
At Naismith Valley Park this week, winter brush lined the bike trail where families and runners passed a small cluster of news trucks. “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. Siena Vance, with The Sexual Trauma & Abuse Care Center in Lawrence, said arrests can bring validation to survivors who have waited years. “It’s a lifelong injury,” Vance said, noting that support for families continues beyond any court ruling.
With the suspect now in Douglas County, authorities said the next milestone is the scheduling of his first appearance in district court. Prosecutors will file detailed charging paperwork and a probable cause affidavit as the case enters the preliminary hearing phase in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated January 1, 2026.