Police say DNA match leads to suspect in sexual assault

Ten weeks have passed since a 13-year-old girl waiting for a ride after school was kidnapped and raped in Henderson.

On Wednesday, Henderson Police Chief Richard Perkins offered the girl and her family some solace.

"Earlier today, Henderson police detectives arrested the suspect" in the "heinous sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl," Perkins said.

Sergio Hugo Hernandez, 30, was taken into custody at a construction site where he was working. The site is a half-mile from where the sexual assault occurred Jan. 25, Perkins said.

The chief praised the diligence of the detectives and forensic analysts who established a DNA profile leading to Wednesday's arrest.

At the start, investigators had little to go on.

The girl was kidnapped about 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25 from the corner of Windmill Parkway and Arroyo Grande Boulevard, about half a mile from her school, Greenspun Middle School.

She had been waiting for a parent to pick her up when the truck pulled up, police said.

A man emerged and asked for directions, but when he got close enough, he grabbed the girl's neck and pushed her into the truck, police said.

He continued to choke her during the short drive to the desert area east of Eastgate Road between Commercial Way and Auto Show Drive, where he raped her, police said.

The girl, who lapsed in and out of consciousness throughout the ordeal, did not remember how she got away.

She remembered running to the University of Phoenix campus next to U.S. Highway 95 and flagging down a man in the parking lot, police said.

Police got the call at 3:17 p.m. and took a description of the suspect from the girl.

The case was made a priority by the department, and a valleywide manhunt ensued, authorities said.

But investigators had little more than the description and DNA evidence.

Forensic analysts with the Metropolitan Police Department's criminalistics bureau were able to test the girl's clothes and come up with a DNA profile of the suspect, a painstaking process that can take several months.

The profile was run through a DNA database, and Hernandez came back as the match, police said.

Hernandez's DNA profile was collected and placed in the database because his robbery conviction in California, Perkins said.

A check of Hernandez's fingerprints showed he was arrested on undisclosed charges by the Metropolitan Police Department last year under the name Sergio Cruz.

Hernandez was located and arrested without incident, Perkins said.

He was booked into the Henderson Detention Center and charged with sexual assault with a victim under 14 years old, kidnapping, child abuse and coercion. He is being held without bail.

Perkins said the girl is doing as well as can be expected considering the crime.

"She has a great support system at home, and I am sure that will continue," Perkins said. "We wish the victim in this case never had to experience this horrific crime, but at least we can make sure that the suspect doesn't have the opportunity to do it again."