Serial rapist arrested after rape kit from 2009 was processed
Megan Abundis
October 23, 2019 10:59 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- A rape kit has turned up a match from a 2009 sexual assault.
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.
Credits
Megan Abundis
Updated: October 23, 2019 10:59 AM
Created: October 22, 2019 10:09 PM
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