ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – A man has pleaded guilty to raping a 76-year-old Albuquerque woman who was walking on a school track.
On Thanksgiving Day 2012, Francisco Perez pulled a knife on the woman as she walked on the track at Alamosa Elementary School on the Westside.
He raped her when she didn’t give him any money.
Detectives were able to identify Perez as the attacker within hours through his DNA.
The arrest marked a milestone because the day Perez was taken into custody was the same day President Barack Obama signed Katie’s Law into effect. That law was created in New Mexico and allows DNA to be collected from anyone arrested for a felony, and Perez’s DNA was in the system.
Perez faces up to 36 years in prison when he’s sentenced.