DNA has led to the arrest of a man who the Collier County Sheriff’s Office says broke into a woman’s home and sexually battered her at knifepoint more than 21 years ago.
“This was a heinous crime, and our detectives have been intent on solving it since day one,” Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a Facebook post.
According to the sheriff’s office, during the early morning hours of Aug. 28, 2004, a masked intruder armed with a knife sexually battered a woman inside of her home.
At the time, DNA collected during the original investigation didn’t initially produce a match.
But that all changed on Dec. 9 of this year, the sheriff’s office said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) notified the Collier County Sheriff’s Office of a possible break in the case.
How an arrest in Tennessee led to a break in the 2004 Collier County case
The sheriff’s office said that a recent search of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) DNA database, indicated that a potential match had occurred between DNA taken from Rossel Moises Ponce Chirinos, 46, and DNA from the 2004 sexual battery investigation.
Collier County Sheriff’s Office detectives learned that Chirinos was in jail in Tennessee for driving without a valid license, in which a DNA sample was taken and submitted into CODIS.
In coordination with the Cocke County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee, a new DNA sample was obtained from Chirinos, and within days the FDLE confirmed that the DNA sample from Chirinos matched the foreign DNA collected during the 2004 sexual battery investigation.
“We never give up,” Rambosk said. “No matter how much time has passed, we will continue using every investigative tool available to identify offenders and pursue justice for victims.”
On Dec. 23, detectives were able to obtain a warrant signed by a Collier County circuit judge for Chirinos’ arrest on charges of sexual battery and armed burglary.
The warrant was then served on Chirinos at the Cocke County jail, and arraignment s are being made for his extradition back to Collier County, the sheriff’s office said.
