New Leads in Decades-Old Case

Cigarette Butt and Genetic Genealogy Key in Suspect Arrest

“It’s been 9,257 days since David James Zimbrick sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl in Naismith Park and when the United States Marshals Service arrested him yesterday,” Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart announced during a press conference held at LKPD Headquarters on December 30, 2025. “Thanks to a very dedicated detective and the assistance of our Investigations Unit, we hope he will never be able to hurt another child.”

LKPD Detective Amy Price

Today, that public announcement about the arrest of the 58-year-old Raytown, Missouri man doesn’t mark the end of Detective Amy Price’s persistent pursuit for justice. It marks the beginning of a newly expanded investigation.

Price responded to the call back in 2000, as a young investigator and appreciates the renewed attention of the case.

“It does feel like a huge accomplishment, but it’s really for the victims and their families. It’s not about me. It’s about their well-being, it really is,” says Price.

A Trail of Cold Cases

The series of crimes began on August 25, 2000, when a 7-year-old girl and two other children were approached by a man in Naismith Valley Park. Offering $20 for help finding a lost item, the man lured the girl into a wooded area and sexually assaulted her. During the initial investigation, retired Detective Mike McAtee collected a cigarette butt at the scene—still smoldering. While a DNA profile was extracted and entered into the national CODIS database, it yielded no matches to identify a potential suspect.

In May 2003, a similar assault occurred in the same park involving a 10-year-old boy. DNA from the second case matched the first, but the identity of the predator remained a mystery.

At the time, detectives believed at least 5 cases were linked to the same suspect but didn’t have DNA samples to prove a connection. Still, they knew a serial sex predator was on the loose.

The breakthrough was made possible by a smoldering cigarette butt collected decades ago and the revolutionary science of forensic genetic genealogy.

The Turning Point: Genetic Genealogy

With no further leads to follow, the case remained dormant until Detective Amy Price learned about the investigative techniques used to capture California’s “Golden State Killer”. In 2019, she advocated for the use of forensic genetic genealogy, a process that differs from traditional DNA testing, and comes at a cost of about $5,000 per sample.

While standard forensic testing looks at specific markers to match a suspect directly to a database of known offenders, the more complicated testing uses a much larger set of genetic data. By uploading the unknown suspect’s profile to public databases, investigators can find distant relatives. This allows genealogists to build out a family tree, narrowing down the search to specific branches.

Connecting the Branches

That’s when decades of traditional investigative experience became key. The journey to connect the clues to a specific person was long and nationwide. The FBI’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Unit joined the effort along with LKPD Detective Meghan Bardwell. The team, after collecting new DNA samples and traveling to interview family members across the county, positively identified a suspect.

LKPD Detective Mehgan Bardwell

This final link led detectives to Raytown, MO, where they obtained a direct DNA sample from Zimbrick under a search warrant. On December 18, 2025, the KBI confirmed the match, and U.S. Marshals later made the arrest.

Since LKPD’s announcement, investigators have received several calls with information about the possibility of additional victims within and outside Lawrence. Detectives will thoroughly investigate each of those leads and this case remains an active investigation.