DNA Evidence Leads To Long Beach Man's Arrest In 1990 Cold Case

OXNARD, CA — A Long Beach man has been arrested in connection with a violent kidnapping and robbery that occurred in Oxnard more than 36 years ago after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, authorities announced Wednesday.

Bobby Allen Rollins Jr., 55, was arrested June 10 in Long Beach and is charged with kidnapping with the intent to commit robbery stemming from a June 1990 attack, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Rollins and an unidentified accomplice are accused of approaching at gunpoint an 18-year-old woman who was parked near the end of Perkins Road in Oxnard. The pair robbed the woman and forced her from her vehicle, prosecutors claim.

The woman was then taken down an embankment, where Rollins sexually assaulted her, prosecutors claim.

Any criminal charges related to the sexual assault are barred by the statute of limitations, according to the DA's office.

"Following the attack, the victim was able to return to her car and drive away at a high rate of speed. She crashed her vehicle into a light pole, about a half mile away, at the intersection of Perkins and Hueneme Road. Witnesses to the crash assisted the victim, where she ultimately received help from the Oxnard Police Department," prosecutors said.

Although evidence was collected at the time, investigators were unable to identify a suspect using the forensic technology available in 1990, leaving the case unsolved for decades, prosecutors said.

The investigation gained new momentum after Ventura County received federal funding through a U.S. Department of Justice initiative that supports testing of previously unexamined evidence and follow-up investigations of sexual assault cases.

“Because evidence was carefully maintained for more than 30 years, it was still available when new DNA technology became capable of providing answers that simply weren’t possible in 1990,” said Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff. “Our Forensic Services Bureau submitted the evidence for advanced DNA testing and analysts were able to develop a male DNA profile, which was then uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The profile generated a match identifying Bobby Rollins Jr., providing investigators with a critical lead that ultimately resulted in
his arrest."

Authorities are continuing to investigate the case and are seeking to identify the second person allegedly involved in the attack.

Investigators also believe Rollins may have committed similar crimes between 1989 and 1992, authorities said. Anyone with information about this case or other possible crimes is asked to contact Ventura County District Attorney Investigator Yumi Kirk at 805-477-1638.

Rollins is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Ventura County Superior Court. Prosecutors are expected to seek detention without bail.

If convicted, Rollins faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison.