Pinellas Detectives Arrest Tampa Man In 1998 Sexual Battery Cold Case

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Detectives with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit on Tuesday arrested a suspect in a 1998 sexual battery case.

Investigators identified the suspect as Lester Austin III, 53, of Tampa, who was taken into custody May 26 at his home by the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force, the sheriff’s office said.

The case began March 8, 1998, after a 20-year-old woman left a club in Ybor City alone.

The sheriff’s office said two unknown men approached her outside the club and offered her a ride home to Pinellas County. After one man was dropped off, detectives said the other drove toward Pinellas County and parked in a wooded area on the north side of the Gandy Bridge.

The victim tried to get out of the vehicle, but the suspect locked the door and hit her multiple times in the face.

The suspect sexually battered her while threatening her with a firearm, then hit her several more times, threatened to kill her if she called police, ordered her out of the vehicle and drove toward Tampa, investigators said.

The victim ran to a passerby, who took her to a nearby business so she could call 911.

Because of the seriousness of her injuries, responding deputies took her to a hospital. Detectives then collected DNA evidence after a sexual assault victim examination was completed.

The DNA evidence was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where a suspect profile was developed and uploaded into national and state databases, but no match was found at the time, according to detectives.

The FDLE announced a genetic genealogy initiative in October 2018 and accepted the cold case for genealogy mapping in October 2019.

In September 2021, FDLE gave detectives three names from the suspect’s family tree to investigate, according to the sheriff’s office.

Detectives followed those leads and gathered information that helped move the case forward.

In April 2026, the FDLE Genetic Genealogy Team found additional information that led investigators to Austin, investigators said.

Deputies confirmed the suspect was Austin before his arrest. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on two counts of armed sexual battery.

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