Cold Case: Suspect Arrested in 16-Year-Old Rape Investigation

A Clinton Township has been arrested in 16-year-old cold case after police tied DNA evidence to the rape of a woman who was abducted and raped after she left a bingo game at a Roseville church.

Michael Loftis, 44, was taken into custody Wednesday morning and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, both life felonies, and unlawful imprisonment, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The victim, who was 62 at the time of the attack, died in 2011 at the age of 75. She had been playing bingo at a festival at Sacred Heart Church in 1998 when a man pushed her into a car, drove to a liquor store parking lot at 12 Mile and Interstate 94 and raped her, officials with the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Lab samples were taken and processed at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab in Northville, but it wasn’t matched until last year. Police received a hit on Loftis, a known sex offender, after his DNA matched DNA obtained in a California case

The prosecutor’s office said detectives from the Roseville Police Department, the Michigan State Police interviewed medical personnel, lab scientists and police officers to put together a case against Loftis.

“I applaud the Roseville Police Department for never letting go of this case,” Prosecutor Eric Smith said. “They combined new forensic science with solid, old-school police work in an effort to bring closure to the victim’s family.

“Our cold case message remains the same. You can run from your actions, but you cannot hide.”

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