HOUSTON – The man arrested in an infamous local cold case could be back in Texas as early as Wednesday night.

Dennis Earl Bradford, the 40-year-old former Dickinson High School student accused of raping an 8-year-old girl, slashing her throat and leaving her for dead in a field in 1990, waived his right to an extradition hearing Wednesday morning.

He was arrested in Arkansas on Tuesday after DNA evidence tested last year led police to his door.

The arrest was a long time coming.

Back in 1990, Houston police sketch artist Lois Gibson did what she could to help catch the man who attacked the little girl, Jennifer Schuett.

Inside Schuett’s tattered file, there are years’ worth of names, numbers and clippings.

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Dennis Bradford's driver's license photo and Gibson's sketch

“The girl was unable to respond orally about the attack,” said Gibson. “There were a lot of beep-beeps and tubes. There were tubes in the little girl. IVs.”

Gibson said Schuett’s case was unforgettable, and as a sketch artist, there was a lot of pressure because the victim couldn’t speak.

Gibson said she had one hour in a crowded ICU room to work magic.

“She’d shake her head. Shake her head no. With her eyes closed,” said Gibson. “I turned it around to her and it was a great relief.”

Gibson was relieved because, to the young victim, the composite sketch looked like the attacker.

Now 19 years later, Gibson is able to see the suspect’s 1990 driver’s license picture and her composite sketch side-by-side for the first time.

“She was sure. She was sure and I didn’t know until now, I didn’t know until today. What a relief it looks that close,” said Gibson.