Serial rapist arrested after rape kit from 2009 was processed

The woman told police that she was in the South Valley waiting outside for her uncle to pick her up when a man attacked her.

She said he choked and raped her before throwing her into a ditch.

Health care professionals performed a rape kit on the woman, but it wasn’t tested until nearly a decade later.

DNA from the kit matches Celso Montano. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was arrested Wednesday morning by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office. 

However, that isn’t the only crime he’s accused of committing.

In 2012, a grand jury indicted him for reportedly raping five other women.

He took a plea deal, completed a prison sentence.

At least one advocate for women believes some of the traumas could have been prevented if the 2009 rape kit was tested in a timely manner.

“It's not just the rape that made them suffer, we made them suffer by not doing these rape kits earlier,” said Safe Street Co-Founder Christine Barber.  

The Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office reports that it is reviewing 2,800 cases that stem from the rape kit backlog.