Woman's 2006 rape kit sat untested for 11 years in New Mexico. Now man convicted
Erik Thomas Lea was found guilty of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of criminal sexual penetration, the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office said in a May 19 Facebook post.
An attorney representing Lea did not immediately respond to McClatchy News' request for comment May 20.
'This conviction is a testament to the dedication of our prosecutors and their unwavering efforts to get justice for victims,' Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said in the Facebook post. 'It brings hope to survivors — no matter how much time has passed, you're not forgotten.'
Lea is accused of kidnapping a woman from a parking lot outside an Albuquerque business in June 2006, prosecutors said.
The woman was visiting the area for her husband's pool tournament, according to police, KRQE reported.
As the woman was trying to get into her car, an unknown man pushed her inside and got into the backseat, officials said in court documents.
The man forced 'her to drive to a secluded area where he raped her,' prosecutors said.
The man then threatened to kill the woman if she went to police, officials said.
However, the woman reported the attack to police and underwent a sexual assault exam, where a rape kit was collected, officials said.
The kit was not tested until more than a decade later in 2017, and DNA identified Lea as the unknown man from the attack, according to officials.
Lea was arrested in April 2019, officials told KOAT.
Lea's conviction comes after the city of Albeque established a project to test a backlog of rape kits per the direction of Mayor Tim Keller's 2018 executive order, the city says on its website.
'The implementation of The Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Backlog Reduction Project is the first step to correcting oversights and changing the course of action for the future,' the website says.
Between 2017 and 2020, more than 4,500 backlogged sexual assault evidence kits were tested, data on the city's website shows.
'As part of a coordinated effort to address Albuquerque's backlog of untested, Sexual Assault Kit cases,' the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative was also formed, according to the district attorney's website.
'The SAKI Team, a dedicated group of attorneys, investigators and victim advocates, is tasked with reviewing, testing and prosecuting rape kit backlog cases and working with victims to build cases and provide them with supportive services and resources,' the website says.
The district attorney's office SAKI unit, which has had 23 cold case rape convictions in two years, prosecuted Lea's case, prosecutors said.
'We are thankful the victim persevered to get this case to trial, and we're glad that justice was done today,' Deputy District Attorney Jack Jacks with the SAKI unit said in the Facebook post.
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