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OGDEN -- An inmate at the Mississippi State Prison has been brought to Utah to face charges in connection to the 1996 rape at Newgate mall.
DNA from the crime scene was matched to 39-year-old Deon Lucero, a former Ogden resident. It's the third time the Combined DNA Index System, a national database known as CODIS, has helped Ogden Police identify a rape suspect.
Lucero is being charged with aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping for the 1996 rape at the "Afterthoughts" store in Newgate Mall - where a 22 year old cashier was robbed at knife point, tied up and then raped in a back room.
At the time, the attackers DNA evidence was collected from the scene, and another man with a history of sexually assaulting women in the area was charged with the crime. However, testing cleared that man when the DNA didn't match his.
After that the case went cold.
Then in 2002, detectives from the Ogden Police Department reopened the case, and submitted the DNA evidence to the State's crime lab - then 8 months ago that DNA was finally matched through the CODIS data base to Lucero - who was serving time in Mississippi for sexual battery.
"We have the DNA, we have the timeline. He has been in the area, he was in the area at this time," said Lt. Scott Conley with the Ogden Police Department. "We've interviewed him, and all the facts that we obtained we took to the county attorney's office and they felt we had enough evidence gathered to file from the evidence gathered."
Eight months ago, DNA from a rape involving at 17-year-old Ogden High School student in 2008 was connected to Zackery Dinkel, thanks to the CODIS database. Dinkel was arrested, pleaded guilty, and is now serving time at the Utah State Prison, according to Lt. Conley.
Lucero was recently brought to Utah to face the charges against him. In the meantime, his victim has been made aware of his arrest. Lt. Conley says though it will be hard for the victim in this case to relive what happened to her If the case goes to trial, it will finally bring the person responsible to justice.
"I'm sure it's going to bring to light the entire incident again. She is going to play it in her mind again, it is going to be hard for her and family members to relive it," said Lt. Conley. "But it's bringing it to closure, and hopefully she can get through it with the assistance of her family members and others around her and we hope for the best."
Lt. Conley said now that Lucero has been connected to this rape 15 years ago, they will review other cases in the past to see if he is connected to any of them. Lucero will make his first appearance in court on Thursday.
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