New hope for victims after DNA links accused sexual attacker to crime – WPEC

New hope for victims after DNA links accused sexual attacker to crime. Image from Boynton Beach Police Department.

A Palm Beach County judge denied Bond Wednesday for a man charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 2015.

Boynton Beach Police say Miguel Antonio Guzman, 41, was arrested this week in Boynton Beach by U.S. Marshals.

Guzman was arrested for the September 23, 2015 home invasion and sexual assault of a teenage girl.

Police said DNA evidence proves Guzman is the attacker.

It was very significant, said Thomas McKinlay, a Crime Scene Investigator with Boynton Beach Police Department.

Investigators say the unidentified teenage girl was home alone September 23, 2015 when she heard noise in her house. When she went to check out what the sound was, officers say the girl was then confronted and assaulted by a man now identified as Guzman.

Once he finds there is a young lady there on her own, he then obviously seized the opportunity to try to sexually assault her, McKinlay said. In the struggle, he partly undresses her and in her struggle with him, she scratched him in the groin.

McKinlay said the act of scratching and fighting back produced just enough blood from the suspect for police to test, a crucial piece of evidence that eventually led this week to Guzmans arrest.

It does give victims hope, theres no two ways about it, victims have to be rest assured, in this particular case, this is a young girl, as opposed to an adult whose more experienced with life, this must have been exceptionally terrifying for her, as a result it must make her feel better that her assailant has now been apprehended and will answer for a despicable attack on her, McKinlay said.

Investigators say after initial analysis of the DNA, the information was put into a law enforcement database. In July 2016, Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office got a confirmed hit, a link to an identity. Police tracked down Miguel Antonio Guzman, who in October 2016 provided a DNA sample and his version of what happened.

Guzman stated that he never broke into anyones home, a Probable Cause report states. I showed Guzman a picture of (redacted) and he stated that he knew the girl but never met her. He stated that he used to smoke weed with her father. Guzman knew the house that the victim lived at bus said he was never in the home.

Police say after taking a direct DNA sample from Guzman at that time, results came back April 6, 2017 confirming Guzman is the man who attacked the teenage girl.

It is an arrest a year and a half in the making. McKinlay said despite the time it takes to analyze and wait for results, it should allow victims to keep hope that no matter the days and months that may pass, that there is still hope for them to find peace and justice.

It does give victims hope, theres no two ways about it, McKinlay said. Victims have to be rest assured, and in this particular case, this is a young girlthis must have been exceptionally terrifying for her, and as a result it must make her feel better that her assailant has now been apprehended and will answer for a despicable attack on her.

Read more from the original source:
New hope for victims after DNA links accused sexual attacker to crime - WPEC