More than a decade after a woman was kidnapped outside of a Tamarac apartment and sexually assaulted, one of two suspects has been identified as a result of renewed DNA testing.
Melvin Kendrick, 59, of Coral Springs, was arrested Feb. 19 on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment in connection with the July 10, 2015, assault, the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
The victim, who was 21 years old at the time, was walking alone outside toward the parking lot of the Tamarac apartment complex about 11:30 p.m. when a stranger — who authorities now say was Kendrick — forced her into a gray, four-door car and tossed her cellphone out the window, according to a probable cause affidavit. A second, younger man was inside the car, and the two men assaulted the woman in a secluded area of the parking lot, the affidavit says.
The younger man got out of the car momentarily and said he would be back. Kendrick drove off with the woman to another secluded area, where he assaulted her again, the affidavit said.
Kendrick prevented the woman from escaping multiple times, threatening to “kill her and dump her body,” the affidavit said. About four hours after she had been taken from the parking lot, the woman managed to jump out of the car as it was moving and ran into a nearby restaurant to call for help.
DNA evidence was collected that night, but there were no similar profiles matching the two men in the local Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, according to the affidavit.
Revisiting the case in December 2024, a Cold Case Unit detective searched the suspects’ profiles against DNA profiles of people incarcerated in Florida prisons to look for possible relatives. In October 2025, testing showed a match with Kendrick’s son, who is incarcerated, according to the affidavit. Though Kendrick had been arrested before, his DNA profile was not currently in the CODIS database.
Broward County court records show Kendrick has a history of arrests dating back to at least the mid 1980s, including on charges of robbery, armed burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery and grand theft auto.
He was arrested in June 2025 on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm and resisting without violence. That case is pending as of Wednesday, court records show.
The second man who assaulted the woman has not been identified.
At the time of the assault, Kendrick lived less than a mile away from the apartment complex where the victim was kidnapped, the affidavit said.
Detectives collected DNA samples from Kendrick during an interview he agreed to in December. The results, received earlier this month, showed Kendrick was a match for the DNA evidence collected after the sexual assault, the affidavit said.
The victim could not identify Kendrick in a photo lineup, using photos from 2015, according to the affidavit. Kendrick when shown a photo of the victim from 2014 said he had never seen the woman before, nor had he ever been to the apartment complex where the attack began.
Kendrick has been released from jail after posting bail. He is monitored by a GPS device and required to stay at his home at all times, with the exception of medical emergencies and up to eight hours per week to attend religious services and personal shopping, according to the supervision order.