OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:31 AM PT – Monday, October 7, 2019

Police used DNA evidence to link a California man to a 1996 cold case. During a press conference Friday, Fresno’s police chief revealed 52-year-old Nick Stane was arrested in connection to the rape and murder of former Fresno State University student Debbie Dorian.

Stane was already in police custody for a series of sexual assaults from 1999 to 2002. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and was denied bail. Police say at least seven of those assault cases were “extremely similar” to the one they have linked to Dorian’s murder.

This Oct. 4, 2019, booking photo released by Visalia Police Department shows suspect Nick Duane Stane. (Visalia Police Department via AP)

According to reports, Stane would allegedly hide his face with the hood of a sweatshirt and threaten young women with a handgun before sexually assaulting them.

With the help of genetic genealogy, DNA discovered during investigations was a match to evidence found at Dorian’s murder crime scene. The DNA was undoubtedly Nick Stane’s.

“Her father went to the residence, to her apartment…the father found his daughter, 22-year-old Debbie Dorian, bound, gagged and had been raped and was deceased, ” Police Chief Jerry Dyer explained.

Fresno Police confirmed Stane will soon be formally charged with Dorian’s rape and murder.