Jury deliberates after DNA match reopens 1985 rape case

One woman has day.

Two men attacked her Oct. 1, 1985, she told a jury this week. Now jurors are deliberating over whether Dobie Hunter, 55, of Fort Lauderdale, was one of those men.

Hunter was arrested two days after the victim, then 16, reported that she had been abducted and repeatedly raped, but it was for a different offense — carrying a concealed firearm, records show.

He also had convictions for sexual assault and battery, kidnapping and cocaine possession, none related to the October 1985 incident, which remained unsolved for decades.

The victim did receive medical treatment, and police saved the evidence that was collected waited long time for this at the time. In mid 2014, the woman said she was inspired by her own daughter’s 16th birthday to call police and prosecutors to find out if there was any progress in her cold case.

Before her call, there wasn’t. But after, police discovered that the DNA collected in 1985 was a match for Hunter, a registered sex offender. He was arrested in August 2014, charged with three counts of armed sexual battery and one count of armed kidnapping.

“Yesterday, the defendant was exposed,” prosecutor Ryan Kelley said in closing arguments Wednesday, a day after jurors heard the bulk of the evidence against Hunter. “He can’t hide in the dark any longer.”

The woman told the jury she was walking with a friend near Northwest 24th Street when Hunter pulled up and dragged her into his car