Police believe they have 'Chandler Rapist'
DNA testing links suspect to series of attacks on young girls, police say
Sarah Muench
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 13, 2008 12:00 AM
Most people knew him as Ricardo and his friends called him "Chaparro," or "Shorty."
But the approximately 5-foot-4 construction worker who called himself Ricardo López, who was known among relatives and close friends as a loving husband and father who would give you "the shirt off his back," is actually Santana Batiz Aceves and is the "Chandler Rapist," police say.
"We are convinced that this suspect . . . is responsible for the multiple assaults that have been committed in our community," Chandler Police Chief Sherry Kiyler said during a press conference Saturday.
Evidence led them to believe he could be a Chandler Rapist suspect. They also said that Aceves, a Mexican national, is in the country illegally and he had been deported twice in California related to drug charges.
“We are convinced that this suspect is responsible for the multiple assaults that have been committed in our community,” Chandler Police Chief Sherry Kiyler said during an afternoon press conference.
That confidence comes from a flurry of DNA examining done by the Arizona Department of Public safety.
Employees working from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning in DPS's crime lab were able to match Santana Batiz-Aceves' DNA to that found at the scene of three of the Chandler attacks.
“The remarkable work of men and women you often don't see, those are the folks that work behind the scenes and offer support functions like the crime lab,” said Deputy Director David Felix of DPS.
Also laboring through the night were Chandler police detectives attempting to sort out the identities of the suspect while waiting to hear the DNA results, said Sgt. Rick Griner of the Chandler Police Department. Officers in Tempe, Gilbert and Phoenix also chipped. As did the FBI.
Kilyler said Aceves is facing 25 felony counts, including kidnapping, child molestation, burglary and sexual abuse with a minor.
News of the arrest made it's way through the community.
Those who live in the neighborhoods where the rapist struck say the precautionary habits they've developed to protect themselves and their families against him will be hard to break.
Tim Medlock lives a few houses down from a 13-year-old girl who was raped last March.
After the rapist hit his neighborhood near McQueen and Ray roads, Medlock refused to leave his 12-year-old daughter home alone, even for quick runs to the Safeway across the street.
He started driving his daughter to the bus stop every school day and called police anytime he saw a suspicious car parked in the neighborhood.
“I'm sensitive to anything now,” Medlock said. “I'll have a better comfort zone if they (police) caught him, but there's a bunch of other sick people out there. I'll still worry.”
Authorities said Aceves worked as a heavy equipment operator and lived in the area of the sexual assaults for the last 18 months.
It was not immediately known if Aceves had legal representation yet.
Kiyler said detectives working a saturation patrol Friday morning in the area of the most recent assault spotted a man who matched the description of the suspect and who was driving a white 2-door car that also matched a police description.
Aceves initially provided officers an alias of Ricardo López.. Inside the vehicle they found a jacket similar to one they believed belonged to the rapist, Kiyler said.
Aceves told officers he lived in Casa Grande and was just visiting Chandler.
Through a search warrant, detectives obtained a buccal swab for DNA from Aceves and in less than 24 hours, they confirmed Aceves matched physical evidence obtained from Chandler Rapist crime scenes, police said.
It took about 12 hours for officers to make the arrest once they made contact with Aceves.
Aceves was preparing to flee as officers arrived at his Chandler residence near Arizona Avenue and Ray Road to arrest him, officers said.
The Chandler Rapist has struck five times since June 2006, all within a few miles of the location where he was arrested.
Police believe he also may be responsible for a Nov. 8 attack on a 15-year-old Chandler girl, based on the suspect description and circumstances that were similar to previous attacks.
In that case, the man entered a home near Dobson and Ray roads and attempted to kiss the girl, who was asleep on a couch, then ran, said Chandler police Lt. Vance Lund.
Three of the five confirmed attacks have been on Andersen Junior High School students, police said. In all of the attacks, the rapist entered the homes without forcing his way in.
In all but one of the previous cases, police believe the rapist stalked the victims for weeks, targeting single-parent homes where the parent leaves early in the morning for work. The man studies the parent's routine, developed a quick escape route and then strikes, police said.
Not much is known about Aceves and he doesn't appear to have a criminal history in Maricopa County according to court records. He was scheduled to have his first court appearance Saturday evening.
A woman who said she was Aceves wife and who gave her name as Claudia answered the couple's apartment door Saturday morning.
“We're doing OK but our kids are very scared because they don't have their father and they don't know when they are going to see him,” she said in Spanish.
She declined to talk about the arrest.
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