DNA links suspect to 2008 rape outside Philadelphia Eagles' stadium

(CBS/AP/KYW-TV) PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Back in 2008, a 40-year-old woman was raped in the parking lot of Lincoln Financial field,  the home stadium of the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, police have identified the primary suspect from a DNA match.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that in 2008, a woman told authorities she had left a group of friends at an Eagles' game to go rest in a bus in the parking lot of Lincoln Financial field. She said the parking attendant who helped her find the bus assaulted then raped her and fled. The police were left with only a composite sketch and DNA evidence.

After a couple of years, the trail went cold.

Special Victims Unit Captain John Darby said investigators had a tough time after the assault, said CBS station KWY-TV. He said it was "a real challenge for us, because of the numbers of people in and around that stadium we all know is thousands and thousands of people. It's like finding a needle in a haystack."

Then in September of 2011, 22 year-old Tiaghgee Daughtry was arrested on a drug charge in Wyoming County, Pa. According to Director of the Police Forensic Science Bureau Michael P. Garvey Jr., his DNA evidence was given to local, state, and national databases which are constantly searched for matches. During a search, they got a "hit": his DNA matched that taken off the woman in 2008.

Authorities also discovered that he had worked as a parking lot attendant three years ago.

"We have a victim we can go to years later and say, 'We have your offender," Darby said.

On Thursday, Daughtry was charged with rape, sexual assault, and other related offenses.