Suspect arrested in '02 rape case
An Aurora man has been charged with three felonies stemming from a sexual assault that occurred in St. Charles in 2002.
Last year, police matched the DNA of Carlos Martinez Lopez with DNA taken from a rape kit after the assault.
Lopez, 24, 324 S. Fourth Street, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to St. Charles police. All the charges are felonies.
On Dec. 21, 2002, just after 10 p.m., he approached a 32-year-old woman in her car outside of her Aurora apartment and asked for a ride, police said. He then pulled a gun out of his coat and forced her to drive to a business parking lot in St. Charles, where he assaulted her, police said.
The victim was treated at Delnor-Community Hospital and the results of a rape kit were sent to the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Laboratory.
At the time, there was no DNA match in the system, but a search in 2006 pulled up Lopez's name. But by that time, he had been deported to Mexico.
Lopez recently was arrested on an obstruction warrant in Kendall County and transferred to Kane County.
He is being held on $1 million bond. His next court date is Aug. 31.