Investigators use DNA database to identify rape suspect
Detectives with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office investigating an alleged rape reported last summer arrested a suspect whose DNA evidence was linked to his identity in a national criminal database.
Court records state a woman was hosting a garage sale off Doña Ana Road on June 24, 2017. The woman said two men who had previously been at her sale returned a short time afterward, claiming to have left a cell phone in her home.
The woman told investigators she let the two men inside her home to retrieve the phone and was sexually assaulted by one of the men while the other “stood watch.”
In May 2018, a DNA match from evidence collected during the investigation linked 40-year-old Encarnacion Salinas to the alleged rape. Investigators said the victim also identified Salinas in a photo lineup.
Monday, June 25, 2018, sheriff’s deputies located Salinas at his parents’ home in Hatch. He was arrested and charged with one count of criminal sexual penetration and one count of false imprisonment.
Prosecutors with the Third Judicial District Attorney’s office requested he be held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center without bond pending a pretrial detention hearing. Their request was granted. Salinas’ hearing is scheduled for July 10, 2018.
