Man charged in 1998 Raleigh rape case, given $3 million bond

A man has been charged in connection with a decades-old rape case in Raleigh after a sexual assault kit and DNA database brought new evidence to light.

Averette Alston was charged for his alleged role in a sexual assault from Aug. 26, 1998, on South State Street.

Alston, 53, was charged on Thursday with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping. He was given a $3 million bond. Alston has been in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Corrections.

The evidence was included as part of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative started by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in 2019.

The arrest resulted from a positive match from the Combined DNA Index System. The system is a national database containing DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons.