OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Police used DNA evidence to make an arrest Monday in the rape of an 11-year-old girl -- a crime in which a man previously arrested was cleared by DNA.

The 24-year-old Parkland man was arrested shortly before 7 p.m. as he returned to his parents' Olympia house a few blocks from the rape scene, Olympia police said in a news release.

Olympia Police Commander Tor Bjornstad said detectives collected the suspect's DNA recently after he spit on the street, and the sample was analyzed by a lab.

The DNA profile from the saliva matched DNA evidence collected from the victim, the news release said.

Detectives identified the man as a person of interest in the case after learning he had been at the victim's home in the last six or seven months, during an event to help her and her family after her father died, a newspaper reported.

He was booked for investigation of first-degree rape of a child, second-degree assault and first-degree burglary.

Last week, a DNA test cleared David Lukas Lynch, 23, of rape charges. Lynch, who police said had been living in an elaborate underground bunker, is currently at Western State Hospital under a civil commitment that is separate from the criminal case.