McCleary, Washington - A 50-year-old man from Washington State has been arrested in connection with a 2003 kidnapping and rape case in McCleary – but officers are currently also looking into possible links to the unsolved murder case of Lindsey Baum.

On Tuesday, Paul James Bieker was booked into the Grays Harbor County jail on Tuesday for allegedly abducting and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 2003.

According to The Olympian, he appeared in Grays Harbor Superior Court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to five charges, including first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, felony harassment and second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission.

He allegedly kidnapped the 17-year-old girl in 2003 when she was on her way to her home on Church Road in McCleary. He then reportedly tied her up, threw her into her own car, and drove her to an unknown location where he eventually sexually assaulted her.

Justice UN experts urge halt to imminent nitrogen gas execution in Alabama

The statement on Bieker's arrest, obtained by People, said that "after sexually assaulting the female, the suspect drove her to a location near McCleary and left her in the vehicle."

That's when the teen managed to free herself and reported the incident. She was then taken to a local hospital where she was examined and DNA evidence was collected.

But even though the suspect's DNA profile was entered into the nationwide criminal database, it couldn't be linked to anyone – until 2020.

It wasn't until last December that there was finally a breakthrough in the case, shortly after the same DNA evidence was submitted for genealogy testing.

According to court documents, investigators then began to focus on Bieker, who lived near the girl's home in McCleary in 2003. On June 3, officers managed to obtain a sample of his DNA from two discarded coffee cups and on June 9, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab compared the two samples – and found a match.

As the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office announced on Facebook last Tuesday, the case is still under investigation. However, due to "the nature and circumstances of the crime," they are now also looking into the kidnapping and murder case of Lindsey Baum.

The 10-year-old disappeared on June 26, 2009, as she walked home from a friend's house. An extensive search ensued, but her body was not discovered until 2018 in Kittitas County, eastern Washington.

Bieker's possible link to her case is the first significant development since then.