Memphis man charged in ’08 rape

Memphis police have charged a 42-year-old man after he was identified as the assailant in a 2008 rape, authorities said Friday.

The victim, who was 20 years old at the time, told Memphis police that she was walking to a bus stop near Elvis Presley Boulevard and East Person Avenue about 8 a.m. Feb. 23, 2008, when Marion Walker offered her a ride in his Ford sport utility vehicle.

Walker took her to nearby Lincoln Park, at Cincinnati and Menager roads, took out a handgun and sexually assaulted her, according to a Memphis Police Department statement. He ordered her out of the vehicle and she took down his license-plate number before he left, police said.

The victim identified Walker as her attacker, police said, and he was arrested Wednesday on an aggravated-rape charge.

The department added that the arrest was not precipitated by testing a backlogged rape kit and that investigators are probing whether Walker is connected to other cases.

The Commercial Appeal reported in September that the Memphis Police Department has developed a backlog of more than 10,000 rape kits since the 1980s. City officials added $500,000 to the department's budget to pay for rape-kit testing and committed $1 million to construct a new facility to house the kits.

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