KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- DNA entered from an Iowa convicted offender led Kansas City police to arrest a Des Moines man in connection with a 2002 rape in northeast Kansas City.
Peter Akwar, 32, is being held in the Polk County jail in Iowa until he is returned to Kansas City. Jackson County prosecutors charged Akwar with one count of rape.
The Kansas City Police Department's cold case sex crimes squad arrested Akwar after his DNA was entered into a national database and it was connected with a 2002 rape. Police said Akwar had been convicted in Iowa in connection with a burglary and his DNA was entered into the system.
He was on parole when he was arrested in late October. Des Moines police are examining whether any other crimes in Iowa are connected to Akwar.
On Jan. 27, 2002, a 39-year-old woman was taken to a Kansas City hospital after she was raped. She told police she had come home to her second-floor apartment when she was attacked in a stairwell. She screamed for her son and her attacker said he would kill her if she didn't stop. After she was attacked, the woman went to her apartment, took a bath and told her children about the incident. Police were notified. Among her description of the man was that he spoke English with an accent.
A sexual assault kit was entered into evidence along with her clothing. On Sept. 8, 2009, a match was made between the DNA on the victim's clothes and Akwar. On Oct. 27, Akwar told Kansas City police who traveled to Iowa that he had never seen the 39-year-old woman or had sex with her.
