DNA test links suspect to three local rape cases

SAN DIEGO: DNA evidence in three rape cases, one nearly 12 years ago, led San Diego police to arrest a 49-year-old suspect yesterday.

Investigators said a computer system matched DNA collected in the three cases to that of Jose David Quintana. He was arrested about 8 a.m. outside his 68th Street home in the Skyline neighborhood.

Quintana is suspected of raping randomly selected victims, threatening each with a gun or knife. Victims described his unusual supple leather footwear as almost feminine, earning him a police nickname as the “soft shoe rapist,” Sgt. Judy Woods said.

In the first case, a woman was assaulted April 29, 1995, in a Rolando laundry on University Avenue. On Sept. 7, 1997, a woman was raped in front of her young children in a canyon near Chollas Lake in Oak Park, Woods said.

The final rape occurred April 15, 2000, in the victim's home on B Street in Golden Hill. Woods said Quintana is not suspected or linked to any other cases.

A sample of his DNA was taken after his 2006 conviction of a felony not related to a sexual assault. Woods said that when the sample was entered in a national DNA database of convicted felons, it matched evidence previously entered from the three local cases.

Man detained at border dies in federal custody

SAN DIEGO: A motorist stopped at the San Ysidro border crossing died early yesterday after he was subdued by customs officers as he ran toward the border, San Diego police said.

The man was in a car entering the United States about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer referred the driver to the secondary inspection area. Two illegal immigrants later were found behind the back seat, police said.

The driver got out of the car and ran about 400 feet toward the border before officers intercepted him, said San Diego homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney.

Rooney said the man resisted attempts to take him into custody and officers used force to subdue him as he tried to break free.

The man was taken to a holding facility, where he went into medical distress. Officers tried to resuscitate him, but he died at a hospital shortly before 1 a.m., Rooney said.

He said the cause of the man's death is unknown and his identity has not been confirmed.

City Heights businesses hit by string of burglaries

SAN DIEGO: Cash, phone cards, lottery tickets and cell phones are among items taken in 18 burglaries to City Heights grocery, liquor and convenience stores this month, San Diego police said.

The masked thieves have used some sort of pry tool to force open the back door of businesses, then attempted to defeat alarm systems by cutting phone wires, Sgt. Juan Gonzales said.

The break-ins have been occurring since the first week in March during nighttime hours along the El Cajon Boulevard-University Avenue corridor.

Police have not released detailed descriptions of the burglars.

Security camera footage has audio of two men talking in Spanish while burglarizing one business, Gonzales said.

“This group is well organized,” he said.

Anybody with information is asked to call police at (619) 531-2000 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS.

Spat between motorists ends in rollover crash

SAN DIEGO: A man was seriously hurt yesterday after he lost control of his car during what police said was a quarrel with another driver.

The man, 20, was driving a Chevy Cavalier north on Interstate 15 about 7:40 a.m. when he got into a spat with a driver of a Jeep Cherokee, police said.

Both drivers got off the freeway and drove east on Poway Road. Police said the man in the Chevy kept flashing his headlights at the Jeep's driver, and tried to speed up to yell at him.

The Jeep's driver would change lanes to cut him off, or hit his brakes abruptly, police said.

During such a move, the man swerved his Cavalier sharply and it overturned, rolling several times into the westbound lanes of Poway Road, where a Toyota Tundra struck it, police said.

The Chevy's driver suffered a broken collarbone, a fractured hand and head trauma and was taken to a hospital.

The driver of the Tundra injured his hand. Police said the Jeep's driver stayed at the crash site and was interviewed by officers.