Mugshot. Credit: Plano Texas Police Department
On Thursday, after years of investigation and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, the Plano Police Department identified and arrested Nicholas Ray Carney, a 64-year-old man residing in Ardmore, Oklahoma, as the suspect in the 1991 abduction and sexual assault of an 8-year-old child. Carney has also been linked to a similar case in Dallas from 1999, and the police have reason to believe there are more victims.
On Aug. 15, 1991, at approximately 6:00 p.m. in the 1700 block of Lake Hill Lane in Plano, two children were walking to a neighborhood pool when an unidentified male abducted and sexually assaulted one of the children. The injured child was found five hours later in Garland, Texas.
In 2023, a Plano Police Detective, in partnership with the Texas Rangers, utilized the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) project to gather further investigative leads from evidence collected in 1991. In 2024, a combination of traditional forensic sciences and genetic genealogy research by Bode Technology and a crime analyst for the Plano Police Department connected evidence from the case to Carney.
Plano detectives located Carney in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where he was arrested for the 1991 aggravated sexual assault against the child. He is currently detained with a pending bond.
After more than 30 years, this breakthrough would not have been possible without the assistance of the surviving victims, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas (SWIFS), the Texas Rangers, Bode Technology, the Dallas Police Department, Collin County District Attorney’s Office, Plano Detective A. Benzick, and Plano Police Department Crime Analyst A. Desmond.
Detectives are continuing to investigate potential offenses by Nicholas Carney and request anyone with information about his possible relation to criminal activity to call the Plano Police Department tip line at 972-941-2148 or [email protected].
Republished courtesy of Plano Texas Police Department