DNA Match Links Suspect To 2013 Sexual Battery Case

Daytona Beach Shores, FL - Investigators say DNA evidence has now linked a 26-year-old man to a 2013 sexual battery case reported on the beach in Daytona Beach Shores. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO) says the defendant, Cole Eben, is currently imprisoned in Illinois for the sexual battery of a toddler in 2014. Eben was 18-years-old at the time of this incident in the Shores. Investigators say it was on December 29, 2013 that Volusia County Beach Patrol and Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety officers found the adult female victim on the beach with no clothes, scrapes on her legs, and no recollection of what had happened to her. In the early stages of the investigation, Eben was a person of interest as witnesses claimed to have seen her with him before the incident. Eben told investigators he did in fact make contact with the victim, but stated he only walked her to a hotel. The victim then underwent a physical evaluation at Halifax Health Medical Center, and a sexual assault kit was later sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. VSO took over the case in 2014, but Eben had already left the jurisdiction. When the sexual assault kit was submitted, there had yet to be any DNA matches in the FBI database. However, five years after taking over the case, detectives learned that a DNA sample submitted from the kit in 2015 matched that of an inmate serving time in an Illinois prison: Cole Eben. Investigators requested a DNA swab search warrant on Eben in January 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the search warrant wasn’t executed until April 16, 2021. Local detectives got the news in June that the DNA profile obtained from the victim matched the profile of Eben, “700 billion times more likely to occur if the sample originated from Eben than from an unrelated individual.” Come this week, investigators submitted an affidavit to the State Attorney’s Office for review, charging Eben with sexual battery of a victim 18 years or older. Eben is currently imprisoned at the Big Muddy River Correctional Center in Ina, Illinois for sexual battery of a toddler. He was due for parole in 2027.