Man sentenced to 25 years on rape charge

Samuel C. Taylor, 29, of Cape Girardeau was sentenced to 25 years in prison for rape at a hearing Monday before Circuit Judge William L. Syler Jr. The rape case went unsolved for four years before a routine DNA test for Taylor's probation for failure to pay child support linked him to the felony. A jury found Taylor guilty Feb. 6 of the rape, which occurred March 12, 2004, in Cape Girardeau. "This case also has a bit of poetic justice to it. If this defendant had paid his child support, his DNA would never have been taken and this forcible rape would never have been solved," said Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney.