By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A convicted felon's DNA was recently linked to evidence left at the scene of the brutal sex attack and attempted murder of a teenager in a Harlem stairwell in 2004, prosecutors said Tuesday.
State prison inmate Curtis Tucker, 46, now stands accused of trying to rape and nearly killing a 14-year-old who he followed to the 32nd floor of her Hamilton Heights public housing building.
Tucker's DNA profile was entered into the federal database this year when he was convicted of attacking and robbing a 74-year-old man in the same building as the alleged attack on the teen.
Tucker "choked her to unconsciousness" in a stairwell before demanding money from the victim, only to learn she had little to offer — just a dollar bill and a student MetroCard, prosecutors said.
He then began beating the girl before pulling her clothes off, but the victim fought him off before he could rape her, according to the Manhattan District Attorney.
The victim, who testified about the incident before a grand jury in 2007, has permanent facial damage as a result of the savage beating, prosecutors said.
Tucker's DNA was found on the bloody MetroCard he left behind, as well as on a pair of glasses that were recovered from the crime scene.
"The DNA database took three days to solve this case," Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges said at Tucker's state Supreme Court arraignment on Tuesday.
Tucker, who is serving a 5.5-year prison sentence in an upstate prison for the attack on the elderly man, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder.
His lawyer said it is too soon to comment on the case following the arraignment.
District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. heralded the case as a powerful example of the results of using DNA evidence.
"This case shows without a doubt that expanding DNA collection to all convictions does not just solve crimes — it prevents them," he said.
