MARIETTA - New DNA test results have helped Cobb Police reopen a cold case and charge a Georgia inmate with a rape that occurred 14 years ago.

Carlos Randall McDowell, 37, originally of Macon, has been charged with rape, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault for raping and assaulting a woman in Kennesaw in January 1996, police said Friday.

McDowell is serving time at Central State Prison in Macon for an unrelated aggravated sexual battery, a crime that occurred in July 1996 in Cherokee County. According to the State Department of Corrections Web site, McDowell could have been eligible for release in August 2011.

Thanks to a DNA investigation by the crime lab at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, an initial match was made that led investigators to McDowell. After a follow-up investigation, additional DNA samples confirmed the original findings.

McDowell admitted to the rape, was arrested and charged by Cobb Police on Feb. 17.

According to the arrest warrant, McDowell kidnapped a woman, who was walking to work at 702 Home Center Drive in Kennesaw at about 5 p.m. on Jan. 28, 1996.

He dragged her across a construction site, forced her into a portable toilet where he raped her, police said.

Police said McDowell admitted he had then tried to strangle the woman, but she was able to escape.