Clinton, MI – A 63-year-old man originally from the Bowling Green, Ohio area was arrested and is currently being held at the Lenawee County Jail on several felony charges stemming from a 1992 sexual assault and robbery that occurred in the Village of Clinton.
On November 28th, 1992, a woman in her mid-twenties was home alone caring for several young children. A male subject, who police believe was Rickly Bixler, entered the home armed with a knife and demanded money from the woman. After money was given, the man then forcefully sexually assaulted the victim and fled the home on foot. During the initial investigation conducted by Officers of the Clinton Police Department, a sexual assault kit was completed and DNA evidence was discovered. No suspect was initially identified and the case went cold until March of 2022.
The DNA evidence from this investigation was still in the possession of the Clinton Police Department and with the assistance of the Michigan State Police Lansing Laboratory, the evidence was submitted and re-examined, yielding a CODIS DNA match of the male contributor, Ricky Bixler.
He is currently an inmate with the Ohio Department of Corrections, and has been in prison since 1994. Bixler has a long criminal history with several felony convictions, including kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault in the States of Kansas and Ohio. Bixler’s Ohio conviction was from a November 5, 1992 robbery and sexual assault case that occurred in Leipsic, Ohio. The Ohio case also went unsolved until a 2001, when a DNA CODIS hit revealed that Bixler was the suspect. On November 28th, 2022, 30 years to the date of the incident, the Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office charged Bixler with a four-count felony warrant, Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree, Kidnapping, Armed Robbery, and Breaking and Entering. If convicted on these charges, he could face up to life in prison.
CODIS is the acronym for Combined DNA Index System, which houses DNA samples collected from known offenders, as well as a samples collected from submitted evidence.
WLEN News talked to Village of Clinton Police Chief, Tony Cuevas, and he said that the department is happy to bring justice to the victim. He also emphasized that even though an arrest has been made, the suspect is innocent until proven guilty…
For additional information on this case, contact Clinton Police Chief Tony Cuevas.
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Booking photograph-courtesy of the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office