CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police in Charlotte say they have arrested a man in connection with a break-in and rape that terrified a south Charlotte neighborhood three years ago.

Sources say DNA evidence collected after after an attempted robbery helped police catch the rape suspect.

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VIDEO: Investigators talk about the break in the case

Stanfield Key made his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon after being arrested in Oklahoma.

Key was silent as a judge appointed him a public defender and set a bond hearing for Sept. 10.

Police say Key broke into a home in the Thornhill neighborhood in south Charlotte in September of 2000 and raped a young mother as her children slept upstairs.

Detectives began looking at Key as a suspect several months after the crimes.

They say it wasn't until last week that they had the evidence they needed to make the case.