Carlos Holcombe sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping & rape of a young girl
A jury Monday convicted the 45-year-old former Fort Bliss soldier of one count of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and one count of indecency with a child.
Tuesday night, after more than 6 hours of deliberations, the jury sentenced Holcombe to life in prison.
On the charge of aggravated kidnapping, Holcombe was sentenced to life & ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
On the 3 counts of aggravated sexual assault, Holcombe was sentenced to life & ordered to pay a $10,000 fine on each count.
And on the charge of indecency with a child, Holcombe received 20 years in prison & ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
The mother and sister of the teenager kidnapped and raped in 2014 testified Tuesday during the sentencing phase of Carlos Holcombe’s trial.
Holcome asked the then 12-year-girl to help him with some boxes in his SUV. The two were in the Horizon High School parking lot during a football game. The girl agreed and followed Holcombe to his SUV, where he allegedly pulled out a gun and forced her into his vehicle.
Holcombe bound and blindfolded the girl before taking her into his home, where he raped her. He later dropped her off at a movie theater in Far East El Paso.
The victim’s older sister told jurors, that after her sister was safely back home, she was “complaining about the pain in her lower area and then she sat in the shower, crying, holding herself.”
The victims mother, a former police officer, struggled to hold back tears as she recounted a conversation she had with her daughter after the incident. “My daughter looked at me and she said, ‘He told me I was perfect.’ And she started to cry,” the mother said.
The victims mother also testified her daughter has nightmares and has lost all her friends because she’s afraid to leave the house. The sister told jurors the victim is fearful of going out in public, and is even scared of wearing revealing clothes.
The Defense is interviewed a psychologist who says Holcombe suffers from PTSD and other mental disorders. The defense witness also told jurors Holcombe had been drinking and smoking before he kidnapped the girl and during the rape.
