DNA collected from a 1994 sexual assault in California has linked a man to four cold cases in Arizona, investigators announced this week. Maricopa police confirmed that 54-year-old Abraham M. Ramirez was recently taken into custody in connection with the crimes uncovered by the DNA database system.
California Assault Leads to Breakthrough
According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, Ramirez was first identified in a 1994 sexual assault case in California, in which the victim managed to escape. While a sexual assault kit was collected, prosecutors dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.
At the time, DNA was a relatively new forensic tool and there were no clear guidelines on how to process or submit evidence into a national system. That evidence was preserved, and when it was recently re-tested and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), it matched samples from four unsolved sexual assaults in Phoenix between 1998 and 2013.
Timeline of the Arizona Cold Cases
Court documents reveal that Ramirez is accused of committing four kidnappings and sexual assaults in Arizona spanning over a decade:
