DNA testing leads to an arrest in San Marcos cold case, police say
Police officials in San Marcos say DNA testing has led to the arrest of a Florida man in connection with a nearly 20-year-old sexual assault case.
Ricardo Cruz Rodriguez, 44, was taken into custody in Tampa on Monday and is awaiting extradition to Texas, San Marcos police said.
Rodriguez was arrested in connection with an Oct. 9, 2004, incident in San Marcos, when a woman told police a man had entered her home and assaulted her in her bedroom.
The woman was unable to see the man’s face because he covered it with a shirt or mask, police said.
The victim was taken to a hospital in Seguin and DNA evidence from her attacker was collected, police say. The sample was sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety for testing, but “without many leads, detectives weren’t able to identify a suspect,” San Marcos police said.
The evidence was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, a national repository maintained by the FBI.
The case remained unsolved for years, until San Marcos investigators reviewed it and contacted the victim, who said she was still interested in pursuing the case.
San Marcos officers worked with DPS officials to have the DNA sample tested again, with more advanced testing than was available in 2004.
In March, investigators found a possible lead connected to Rodriguez, police said. Rodriguez grew up in San Marcos but was living in Tampa.
Investigators were able to obtain a DNA sample from Rodriguez, with assistance from the Texas Rangers and the Hillsborough County Sheriff ’s Office in Florida, San Marcos police said.
DPS tested the sample and found it to be a match to the sample collected in 2004, police said.
Rodriguez and faces two charges of aggravated sexual assault.
San Marcos Cpl. Brady Templeton said the arrest would not have been possible without funding from the Department of Justice’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which provides grants to law agencies working on cold cases.