{"id":167727,"date":"2026-02-25T00:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167727\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:12:06","slug":"dna-database-helps-broward-deputies-identify-2015-sexual-battery-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167727\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA database helps Broward deputies identify 2015 sexual battery suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla.   \u2014 A Coral Springs man who was born in Miami faced charges on Tuesday for a sexual battery that happened more than a decade ago in Broward County. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Court records show that a Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office detective requested a warrant for Melvin Kendrick\u2019s arrest on Feb. 18 for the 2015 sexual battery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe victim had no way of escaping,\u201d the detective wrote, according to the warrant. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">When Kendrick was 48 years old, he held a victim against her will on July 10, 2015, and used force during the sexual battery, according to the arrest warrant. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">After the abuse, the victim saw an opportunity to jump out of a car and run to a restaurant for help in Lauderdale Lakes, according to deputies. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The victim then met with deputies at the 3600 block of West Oakland Park Boulevard, and reported she was walking when a man cornered her, threatened to kill her, tossed her phone, and forced her into his car, where there was another man, records show. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In December 2024, BSO\u2019s cold case unit reviewed the case and submitted DNA evidence to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdle.state.fl.us\/forensics\/disciplines\/dna-database\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.fdle.state.fl.us\/forensics\/disciplines\/dna-database\">Florida Department of Law Enforcement\u2019s DNA Investigative Support Database<\/a>, which includes felons\u2019 DNA, according to deputies. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cA familial DNA search of the unidentified suspect male profiles were requested,\u201d a deputy wrote, records show. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The database identified \u201can inmate who was a possible close family member\u201d of a suspect, and after DNA testing, helped deputies to identify Kendrick, 59, as the woman\u2019s attacker in 2015, according to deputies. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Court records show prosecutors filed a case against Kendrick on Monday, after deputies arrested him on Feb. 19 in Coral Springs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kendrick appeared in court on Feb. 20, facing two felony charges: Sexual battery, a first-degree felony, and false imprisonment, a second-degree felony. His bond is $55,000 with a GPS monitor order. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Broward County Circuit Judge Peter Holden was set to preside over Kendrick\u2019s case. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla. \u2014 A Coral Springs man who was born in Miami faced charges on Tuesday for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-167727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}