KENT, Wash. — Kent Police have arrested a person in connection with a sexual assault of a 6-year-old that happened at a Kent business on May 19, 2013.
The Kent Police Department (KPD) says on August 6, 2024, investigators got a break in the case when DNA collected at the scene came back with a match to 31-year-old Nicholas Keith Hargrave in Texas. His previous address was linked to Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) at the time of the crime.
KIRO 7 spoke with the survivor, who’s now an adult, and her mother, Tracy. They say they’re both relieved by the arrest.
“It was kind of surreal to finally get that phone call. I guess I prayed that this day would come,” Tracy said.
According to police, a suspect entered the retail store, approached the child, and sexually assaulted the girl while her mother was at the register.
The survivor told KIRO 7 that she remembers that day 11 years ago from start to finish.
“While they were shopping, I was like playing like in the toy aisle, and then when everything happened, I remember immediately afterwards I ran to my parents,” she explained.
Her mom, Tracy, said she was in complete shock.
“I immediately screamed, took her clothes off, threw it on the wagon and I said somebody call 911,” Tracy said.
Hargrave faced a child pornography conviction in 2022 that required his DNA to be collected and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that Kent Police used.
Kent Police working with the King County Prosecutor’s Office were able to have the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office in Texas arrest Hargrave.
“I was shocked. I had happy tears though, you know, and I said thank you so much for not giving up,” Tracy said.
She and her daughter said they wanted to come forward in case more victims were out there.
“I’m glad that justice is finally being served and that hopefully, if there’s other people who have interacted with this man the way that I did, they can also get the justice that they deserve,” the survivor said.
Hargrave is currently waiting to be extradited to Washington to face charges.
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