Prison inmate, 61, charged for rape committed when he was 32

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announces last cold case funded by federal grants.

Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday used DNA evidence to charge a man for a 1986 rape in Kansas City.

It is among more than 50 charged cases funded by federal grants for cold cases, county prosecutors said, but it is also the final case to get those funds.

Cleophus Parker, 61, is charged with two counts of rape, forcible sodomy and first-degree robbery.

According to court records:

On July 9, 1986, two men approached the victim as she walked to her car in the East Bottoms. They threatened to shoot her and restrained her in her back seat.

Then they drove her to a grassy area, tied her hands and raped her. DNA recovered from the victim linked Parker to the crime in 2012. He was contacted in Missouri prison last year.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said it is the last case funded under the federal cold case grants received since 2009.

“The crimes charged in these cases occurred as long ago as 1980, but they leave a lasting impact on each victim,” Baker said. “I’m proud that our prosecutors have been able to secure prison sentences of more than 1,500 years, including 35 life sentences, due to these grants.”

Although the grants are ending, she said, her office has developed the expertise to continue work on such cold cases.