PHOENIX — A Texas man has been arrested for a 38-year-old kidnapping and assault cold case in Phoenix, police say.
Phoenix police are crediting new DNA testing technology for helping them track down the suspect, David Roy Mundt, 61, in the 1986 case.
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On July 6, 1986, officers were called to a home in the area of 10th Street and Coral Gables Drive by parents who reported their child was missing.
When officers arrived the parents told them they woke up to realize their home had been broken into overnight and their child was missing.
The child was found a short time later by neighbors and officers learned the child had been kidnapped and assaulted before they were found. The scene was processed and an investigation began but eventually, the case went cold.
In October 1992, a similar incident took place in Henderson, Texas. A child was kidnapped and assaulted but the DNA gathered did not match anyone in CODIS.
The Phoenix case was assigned to Phoenix PD Cold Case Sex Crimes detectives, who submitted entered DNA from that case into CODIS. The suspect’s DNA matched that gathered in the Texas case but officers were still unable to match it to a person.
In 2024, Phoenix cold case detectives again pushed this case forward, this time using Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG). This process led to a suspect being identified as 61-year-old David Mundt.
In August, Phoenix detectives worked with Texas authorities to locate and arrest Mundt for the case in Texas. Phoenix detectives then worked with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to get an arrest warrant for Mundt in the Phoenix case.
Once extradition is worked out, Mundt will be transported to Phoenix.
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