A Baltimore County man was convicted Thursday of raping a woman at a Linthicum nightclub in 1990 in a cold case that went unsolved until a DNA link was revealed in 2005.
Wendell Keys, 40, of Gwynn Oak, was found guilty by a jury of first- and second-degree rape and false imprisonment following a trial this week before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge William Mulford.
The break in the case came after Keys was arrested in August 2005, and detectives ultimately were able to match his DNA to semen recovered from the 26-year-old victim of the July 31, 1990, rape at the Safari nightclub.
“It truly shows how valuable a tool DNA can be when solving a cold case,” said Anne Arundel State?s Attorney spokeswoman Kristin Fleckenstein following the verdict.
“Without the DNA, the case would have likely gone forever unsolved.”
During the trial, the victim, now 44, and whose name The Examiner is withholding to protect her identity, described to jurors how two men, including Keys, grabbed her at the front door of the nightclub and forced her into a car.
While in the car, she said she began screaming, banging on the windows and kicking the doors.
Both men took turns raping her in a secluded parking lot before eventually dropping her off near her boyfriend?s residence, she testified.
They threatened to kill her young daughter if she told police, she said.
The other man in the car was never identified, but Keys? DNA was an “exact match,” according to prosecutors.
Although the jury did find Keys guilty on the most serious charges, he was not guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy, Fleckenstein said.
Keys? defense attorney, Warren Brown, could not be reached for comment.
Keys faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Sentencing is Aug. 5.
