DNA links pair to decade-old sex assaults
Suspects currently serving sentences for unrelated crimes
Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
Thursday, April 27, 2006
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DNA evidence has helped Denver police link two men to two separate sexual assaults from a decade ago.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Lavone Barron, 51, and Guillermo Barron-Baca, 30, in connection with the crimes.
Barron, who faces two counts of sexual assault, is being investigated for a June 16, 1996, attack on a woman sleeping in her home. The 27-year-old victim woke up to find a man holding a knife to her throat before she was sexually assaulted.
The case was reopened when police matched DNA samples to Barron, who is currently serving 48 years in prison for burglary.
In the other case, Barron-Baca is charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault in connection with a Sept. 14, 1996, attack on a 33-year-old woman.
Police said the woman had accepted a ride home from Barron-Baca and another man. The men are accused of driving her to an empty field and brutally attacking her.
The other man was arrested several days after the incident and pleaded guilty in the case.
Barron-Baca is also serving a 48-year prison sentence. His conviction stems from a sexual assault involving another woman in Lafayette.
Both Barron and Barron-Baca, who are not related, are scheduled to appear in court next week.
The men were identified as suspects through the Denver Police Department's Cold Case DNA Project.
The project is funded in part by the National Institute of Justice, which has provided the Denver crime lab with two grants totaling nearly $900,000 since 2002. Detectives, crime lab personnel and the Denver District Attorney's Office work collaboratively on the project.
As of May 2005, police have reviewed about 2,900 unsolved cases. Of those, 674 have been flagged as candidates for genetic comparisons.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, said nine suspects have been charged since the project was implemented.
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