Greg Kelley's former high school friend and the alternative suspect in a case that involved the sexual assault of a 4-year-old boy may never face charges for the crime Kelley was convicted of in 2014, Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick told KVUE and Austin American-Statesman reporter Tony Plohetski Wednesday.
In May 2017, Jonathan McCarty, 20, was named as a possible suspect in the case. Kelley's lawyer argued that the victim might have mistaken Kelley for McCarty, whose mother operated an at-home daycare. The lawyer also accused McCarty of confessing to the crime and possessing nude photographs of children on his cell phone.
But those allegations don't seem to be enough to bring about charges, according to Dick.
"Absent of any extraordinary evidence or a confession, I do not anticipate ever charging Johnathan McCarty with this crime," Dick said. "Sometimes you have clues, leads, motives but the bottom line is that when you are going to take someone to trial, I don't believe we are going to be able to based on the evidence we have now."
KVUE reached out to McCarty's lawyer about the latest revelation in the case, but have yet to hear back.
Dick said McCarty is in the Williamson County jail on unrelated sexual assault charges and a probation violation.
According to Dick, the investigation into the 4-year-old boy's sexual assault is ongoing, and the Texas Rangers plan to keep it open until they exhaust all of the possible leads in the case. Texas Rangers said they are investigating a third suspect in the case, but have not released the person's identity.
