IAPE Evidence Blog

Las Cruces Sun-News (New Mex­ico)
By Ash­ley Meeks Sun-News reporter

Las Cruces, NM

LAS CRUCES — A crim­i­nal “John Doe” war­rant will be filed this week for the man sus­pected in a vio­lent rape that took place under a bridge on the banks of the Rio Grande in June, Doña Ana Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Rey­naud said Tuesday.

If caught, the man likely will face charges of crim­i­nal sex­ual pen­e­tra­tion, kid­nap­ping, and pos­si­bly aggra­vated bat­tery and oth­ers, offi­cers have pre­vi­ously said.

A DNA pro­file of the man was com­pleted in mid-August and, while it doesn’t match any­one already logged into the county’s sys­tem, it has yet to be matched against the national Com­bined DNA Index Sys­tem and the FBI’s database.

The “John Doe” war­rant will pro­tect against the seven-year statute of lim­i­ta­tions for fil­ing a war­rant expir­ing, Rey­naud said.
“We haven’t received any­thing fresh in a while,” Rey­naud said.
Late on the night of June 1, the man passed a 25-year-old Las Cruces woman walk­ing home from work sev­eral times on Burke Road, killed his lights and strik­ing her with his car. After the 10 mph to 15 mph col­li­sion, which knocked the woman’s head onto the pave­ment, requir­ing stitches, the man allegedly got out, asked if she needed help, placed her in his car and took her to the river.

He then raped her repeat­edly on the west bank of the Rio Grande at a long­time party loca­tion nick­named Thou­sand Poles, under­neath the Inter­state 10 bridge, west of Motel Boulevard.

After­ward, he drove the woman back to Burke Road, three miles away.

The man was ini­tially described as a His­panic man between 20 and 30 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall with a medium build and short, black hair. The front pas­sen­ger seat of his vehi­cle, pos­si­bly a dark-colored SUV with a gray inte­rior, was believe to be stained with a sub­stan­tial amount of blood. Because of the dark­ness and the con­di­tions of the inci­dent, no com­pos­ite sketch was made.

The inci­dent remains under inves­ti­ga­tion and the sheriff’s office con­tin­ues to search for the vehicle’s dri­ver. Any­one with infor­ma­tion on the inci­dent is asked to call (575) 525‑1911 or, after 5 p.m., (575) 526‑1795, or, from out­side Las Cruces, (800) 332‑2121 or (800) 260‑0911.

Ash­ley Meeks can be reached at ameeks@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541‑5462.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org

Albu­querque Jour­nal (New Mex­ico)
BYLINE: Bruce Daniels, Albu­querque Jour­nal, N.M.

Las Cruces, NM

DNA pro­file recently com­pleted for sus­pect in June 1 attack on Las Cruces woman.

Sep. 9 – A crim­i­nal “John Doe” war­rant was filed this week for the still-unidentified sus­pect in the vio­lent rape of a 25-year-old Las Cruces woman under a bridge on the banks of the Rio Grande in June, Dona Ana County sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Rey­naud told the Las Cruces Sun-News.

A DNA pro­file of the man was com­pleted in mid-August, and while it doesn’t match any­one cur­rently in the county’s sys­tem, it will be sub­mit­ted to the national Com­bined DNA Index Sys­tem and the FBI’s data­bases, the Sun-News said.

If the sus­pect is appre­hended, he will likely face charges of crim­i­nal sex­ual pen­e­tra­tion, kid­nap­ping and pos­si­bly charges of aggra­vated bat­tery and other counts, offi­cers have said.

The “John Doe” war­rant will pro­tect against the seven-year statute of lim­i­ta­tions for fil­ing a war­rant from expir­ing, Rey­naud told the Sun-News.

Accord­ing to police reports, the woman was walk­ing home from work late on the night of June 1 when a man in an SUV passed her sev­eral times, then killed his lights and struck her with the vehi­cle, knock­ing her to the pave­ment, the paper reported.

The man then got out of the vehi­cle, asked the woman if she needed help, put her in his car and took her to the river where she was repeat­edly raped at a well-known party loca­tion knowned as Thou­sand Poles, beneath the Inter­state 10 bridge over the Rio Grande, the Sun-News said.

The man was ini­tially described as His­panic, between 20 and 30 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a medium build and short, black hair, accord­ing to police. Because of the dark­ness and con­di­tions of the inci­dent, no com­pos­ite sketch was made.

Any­one with infor­ma­tion is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (575) 525‑1911 or, after 5 p.m., (575) 526‑1795, or from out­side Las Cruces, 1 – 800-332‑2121 or 1 – 800-260‑0911.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org

Alam­ogordo Daily News
By Duane Bar­bati, Staff Writer
Link to Arti­cle

Alam­ogorodo, NM

A 34-year-old Alam­ogordo man is being held on a $60,000 bail bond for alleged bur­glary after Alam­ogorodo Depart­ment of Pub­lic Safety offi­cers used DNA evi­dence to con­nect him to the Kar­rousal preschool break-in on Jan. 16, an ADPS spokesman said.

Detec­tive Roger School­craft said Andrew Piedra was charged with two counts of com­mer­cial bur­glary, three counts of crim­i­nal dam­age to prop­erty, unlaw­ful tak­ing of a motor vehi­cle, receiv­ing or dis­pos­ing of stolen prop­erty and larceny.

School­craft said Piedra was charged Wednesday.

He said Piedra is accused of break­ing into the Kar­rousal preschool, 301 Texas Ave., on Jan. 16 and Feb. 11.

School­craft said the sus­pect is accused of tak­ing sev­eral elec­tronic items and break­ing into a candy machine, then tak­ing food and money from it.

School­craft said Piedra is also accused of tak­ing a white van from the preschool.

He said the total dam­age to the prop­erty within the preschool build­ing and vehi­cle was in excess of $2,500.

“At the crime scene, we were able to col­lect some DNA evi­dence from Kar­rousal,” School­craft said. “I had arrested him on charges ear­lier in the year in another case. I was able to get a DNA swab from him after his arrest on the other charges.”

School­craft said he was able to com­pare the DNA from a March 23 arson and bur­glary in the 600 block of Delaware Avenue.

“Piedra allegedly van­dal­ized the inside of the preschool,” School­craft said. “He allegedly kicked things and punched some of the walls.”

He said Piedra had prior con­tact with law enforcement.

School­craft said that dur­ing the course of the inves­ti­ga­tion, numer­ous items of evi­den­tiary value was col­lected and sub­mit­ted to the North­ern Foren­sic Crime Lab­o­ra­tory in Santa Fe for analy­sis, then com­pared to a pos­si­ble suspect.

He said on July 27, detec­tives received a lab­o­ra­tory analy­sis report from the Santa Fe lab­o­ra­tory iden­ti­fy­ing the DNA evi­dence sub­mit­ted matched the DNA pro­file to the sus­pect iden­ti­fied as Piedra.

School­craft said some of the stolen prop­erty from the Kar­rousal preschool bur­glary has not been recovered.

Con­tact Duane Bar­bati at dbarbati@alamogordonews.com.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org