DNA leads to cold case arrest

PULLMAN – Three women have waited 18 years for the man responsible for invading their homes and raping them to face justice.

Now, a Spokane County man is being held in the Whitman County Jail on $5 million bail on charges stemming from the attacks.

Kenneth D. Downing, 47, of Elk, is being held in the jail, charged with three counts of second-degree assault-sexual motivation, three counts of unlawful imprisonment, four counts of first-degree rape, indecent liberties-using force and two counts of first-degree burglary.

He is accused of entering the local homes of three women and raping them betw...