DNA ties North Las Vegas man to 2003, 2007 sex assault cases

A North Las Vegas man was arrested last week after DNA tied him to two sex assault cold cases from more than a decade ago.

Eldridge Brantley, 50, was arrested June 23 and charged with two counts of sex assault, battery with intent to commit sex assault and battery by strangulation to commit sex assault, according to court records.

A DNA researcher working with the Metropolitan Police Department alerted officers in July 2020 that Brantley’s data may be a match to sex assault cases in 2003 and 2007, according to an arrest report from the department released Wednesday.

The first woman told police in 2003 that she was assaulted in the laundry room of her apartment complex, and she believed the man drove out of the complex after throwing her to the ground. A second woman reported that in 2007 a man choked her and sexually assaulted her in his car at a gas station, according to the report.

Officers reviewed Brantley’s record, which showed he had a prior charge of indecent exposure and open lewdness in Las Vegas from 2005. The report, according to police, was from a woman who was considering buying a home from Brantley while he was a real estate agent, but when he expressed wanting to have sex with her and began performing lewd acts, she told him he was breaking the law.

The potential buyer told police Brantley sent her flowers the next day, with a note threatening her if she told anyone about their encounter the day before.

Las Vegas Justice Court records show the charges in the 2005 case were dropped six months after they were filed.

When investigators confirmed the DNA matched, they called the women from the 2003 and 2007 cases. One said she did not want to prosecute, but the other said she was wanted to press charges and still went to therapy because of the sexual assault.

Brantley was interviewed in March but told police he had no recollection of assaulting any women. He said he could not remember every woman and place he had relations with women because he had been in the Las Vegas Valley since 1996.

He was released on $20,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 6.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.