Nearly 12 years to the day a former Kansas University student was kidnapped from the parking lot of her dorm and raped, the man responsible is finally convicted of the crime.

“It’s good to go back and close an old case on a violent crime,” Chief Assistant Douglas County District Attorney Amy McGowan said shortly after jurors returned with a verdict late Friday afternoon.

A jury found 36-year-old Robert Grey guilty of one count of rape, stemming from an attack on a then 20-year-old KU junior, who was abducted at gunpoint from Naismith Hall on May 11, 1997. Grey drove the victim to a secluded area near the tennis courts at Lawrence High School, 1901 La., and raped her.

Lawrence police recovered a fingerprint from the victim’s car and DNA evidence but were never able to identify a suspect.

The case went cold.

But in 2007, detectives finally got the break they were looking for.

Grey, who had been arrested on an unrelated charge in Johnson County, was required to submit his fingerprints. Finally there was a match in the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a database containing that fingerprint from the unsolved 1997 crime.

Police served a search warrant on Grey in the Johnson County Jail, obtaining his DNA, which matched the genetic profile of the rapist.

“The DNA was the entire case. It really was,” McGowan said. “This is an example of the power of DNA. It can free people, but it can also say they have to be held responsible for their crimes.”

During the weeklong trial in Douglas County District Court, the defense argued Grey’s DNA would be found on the victim because he said the two had consensual sex in the parking lot of a Lawrence bar the night before the rape. The victim denied she’d ever seen Grey until the night of the attack and made a surprise identification of him as the rapist in court.

Defense Attorney Jessica Travis made multiple objections to the identification issue, calling for a mistrial several times throughout the trial.

“If ever there was a case that I’ve handled that is ripe to be overturned, it is Mr. Grey’s,” Travis said.

Attorneys for both sides made closing arguments Friday before turning the case over to the jury about 1 p.m.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours before convicting Grey on one count of rape. The statute of limitations had run out on an aggravated kidnapping charge he originally faced.

The defendant’s family cried out in disbelief as the verdict was announced. Grey could be seen wiping tears from his eyes.

“Even though there’s satisfaction with the conviction, it’s very difficult for the other side and for the other family,” McGowan said. “It’s very emotional for them, too.”

Immediately following the verdict, McGowan called the victim, who had returned to her home in another state since testifying earlier in the week, and told her the good news.

“She and her husband and new baby went back home. They’re very excited because they can close this chapter,” McGowan said. “Everybody is just relieved, I think is the best way to put it.”

The judge has not yet set a sentencing date, but depending on his criminal record, Grey is looking at serving from 12 to 54 years in prison.