DNA Leads to Arrest in 1990 Kidnapping Case

Oct. 14, 2009— -- Nearly 20 years after Jennifer Schuett was snatched from her bedroom and left for dead in a Texas field, police on Tuesday arrested the man who they say left a small amount of DNA on the little girl's clothing.

"I stand here and I want you to know that I am OK," Schuett, now 27, said after the arrest. "I am not a victim but instead victorious."

Police charged Arkansas welder Dennis Bradford, 40, with attempted capital murder.

According to an FBI affidavit, Schuett was eight years old when she disappeared from her bedroom Aug. 10, 1990. Nearly 12 hours after she was reported missing by her mother, Schuett was found nude in a nearby field, her throat cut. She had also been sexually assaulted.

Two-tenths of a mile from where she was found, police found the clothing Schuett had been wearing that morning -- a pink shirt and white underwear with blue roses -- as well as a man's T-shirt and underwear.

In a hospital interview with police and the FBI, Schuett told investigators that she was asleep in her bedroom when the man opened the window and grabbed her, putting his hand over her face and telling her to shut up, according to the affidavit.

The FBI said Schuett was put on the man's lap as he drove and was choked four times. Schuett told investigators that the man then drove into the woods, took her out of the car, "undressed her and licked her all over," according to the affidavit.

She was then dragged into the field and cut with a pocket knife.