Black man raped 17-year-old girl

On the night of Dec. 30, 1997, George Eugene Cross raped a 17-year-old girl in her apartment. The girl called the cops, and DNA evidence was collected as she was examined. But the case went cold. In 2003, Cross was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a series of rapes in Sacramento County. His DNA was also entered in the crime database, and in 2004, Orange County authorities got a hit for the 1997 rape in Anaheim. A jury found Cross guilty of rape, with a sentencing enhancement for residential burglary. The judge in Santa Ana sentenced the 42-year-old rapist to 25 years to life in state prison. Cross was on probation for a 1995 sexual battery in Los Angeles County when he raped the 17-year-old.