The Phoenix Police Department’s Cold Case Sex Crimes Unit has identified the suspect of a 1986 kidnapping and sexual assault case.
According to the Phoenix Police Department, on July 6, 1986, officers responded to the area of 10th Street and Coral Gables Drive after the parents of a toddler reported the kidnapping of their child. The parents told officers they woke up and realized that their home had been burglarized overnight and that their child was missing from their bedroom. The child was located not long after the call for service by neighbors and returned home.
Officers learned that the child had been kidnapped and assaulted by an unknown person prior to being found. The scene was processed, and the investigation began. Despite concerted efforts by the original investigators, the case was not solved and went cold.
In October 28, 1992, a child in Henderson, Texas was kidnapped and assaulted in a similar fashion as the case in Phoenix. This scene was processed. Physical evidence from this case was entered into CODIS, but the suspect DNA did not match a known person.
The Phoenix case was assigned to Phoenix PD Cold Case Sex Crimes detectives, who submitted physical evidence and entered this evidence into CODIS. The suspect’s profile from this evidence matched those from the Henderson, Texas case, but again—this DNA did not match a known person.
In 2024, Phoenix cold case detectives again pushed this case forward, this time using Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG). This process produced a strong lead which was further investigated. Ultimately, this led to the suspect being identified as 61-year-old David Mundt.
In August of 2024, Phoenix detectives worked with Texas authorities to locate and arrest Mundt for the case in Texas. Phoenix detectives then established probable cause for the case in Phoenix, and through working with our partners and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Mundt was issued an arrest warrant for kidnaping and sexual assault.
Mundt is now being held on those charges, in addition to the previous charges from the Texas case. Once extradition is worked out, Mundt will be transported to Phoenix to face the related charges.