Paragould, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – A Paragould man has been arrested in connection with the 2023 sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl after investigators used advanced DNA testing to identify a suspect more than two years after the attack.

According to an arrest affidavit from the Paragould Police Department, officers were dispatched on October 14, 2023, to the 800 block of Northwood Drive after the child’s parents reported their daughter had been assaulted.

Police said the girl told her parents that an unknown man took her into nearby woods and sexually assaulted her near their home. The victim and witnesses were later interviewed by police.

An investigator with the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division conducted a forensic interview with the child. During that interview, the girl reported she was sexually assaulted while being threatened with a firearm, according to the affidavit.

Medical professionals collected forensic evidence during an examination, which was later submitted to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory.

On February 1, 2024, the crime lab notified Paragould police that male DNA had been identified from the evidence. The DNA profile was entered into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but no matches were initially found.

Investigators later sent the evidence to Othram Laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas, on May 7, 2025, for forensic genetic genealogy testing.

On February 9, 2026, detectives received results indicating a presumed DNA match to Steven Bearden as a potential suspect. Bearden’s address was listed on the arrest affidavit as Greene 808 Road.

Detectives obtained a search warrant the following day to collect DNA samples from Bearden. During a Mirandized interview with investigators, Bearden confirmed he lived a few hundred feet from where the assault occurred but denied having any inappropriate contact with children in the neighborhood, according to the affidavit.

DNA samples collected from Bearden were submitted to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory on February 11.

On March 5, 2026, the lab notified investigators that testing confirmed the male DNA recovered from the evidence belonged to Bearden “with all scientific certainty,” according to the affidavit.

Bearden was subsequently arrested in connection with the case. He is charged with rape, kidnapping, and aggravated assault, all felonies. District Judge Curtis Hitt set bond at 1.5 million dollars.

The investigation remains ongoing.