| For Immediate Release September 14, 2006 |
Contact: | Susan Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel (714) 347-8408 Office (714) 323-4486 Cell |
MAN FOUND GUILTY OF 1995 RAPE AND KIDNAPPING AFTER STATE’S 100TH DNA HIT TIED HIM TO THE CRIME
SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana man, who was linked through DNA to the rape of a Fountain Valley woman in 1995, was found guilty today on all charges. This case marked the 100th time that the state tied a suspect’s DNA to an unsolved crime. Robert Castillo, 34, was convicted of forcible rape, forcible sodomy, and kidnapping. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 3, 2006 and faces a minimum of 25 years to life in prison.
On February 23, 1995, Castillo raped a 28-year-old woman in Fountain Valley. The victim had run an errand to a 7-11 store and was returning home. Castillo grabbed the victim from behind as she was walking home, forced her at knifepoint into a secluded area, and brutally raped and sodomized her. The victim did not know the identity of the perpetrator.
The crime remained unsolved for seven years. In 2002 the evidence collected by the Fountain Valley Police Department was submitted to a statewide database by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. A positive DNA hit was made on Castillo. He was arrested in Costa Mesa on a parole violation. The DNA match was the 100th time in California that a suspect was tied to a crime through the use of DNA analysis.
Deputy District Attorney Kal Kaliban of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
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