Police ID suspect in sexual assault
Officials say attack happened while victim's baby was home
Austin police say a woman gave directions to stranger last week. She offered him a ride and chatted with him about job opportunities.
Later that day, the man forced his way into her North Austin apartment while pointing a gun at her and raped her while her 1-year-old child was home, investigators said.
Police on Monday identified 36-year-old Jacob Rodriguez as the suspect in the assault. He was in the Caldwell County Jail on unrelated charges, and Austin police said they were filing warrants for him on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault.
The attack happened the afternoon of April 15 in the 8800 block of the southbound Interstate 35 service road, just south of Rundberg Lane, police said.
Authorities said the woman first came into contact with Rodriguez earlier that day, when she met him and another woman at her apartment complex. The pair said they needed directions to a local store, and the woman told them how to get there. Rodriguez later knocked on her door, asking for a ride to the store to buy snacks, police said. She drove him to a local gas station, he bought something, and they headed back to the apartment complex.
Twenty minutes after she dropped him off, he knocked on her door again, asking to use her cellphone.
"She went to the bathroom to retrieve her cellphone," Austin police Detective Robert Krummel said. "When she turned around, the suspect had entered her residence, pointed a gun at her, and forced his way in."
He told her that if she didn't do what he said, he would kill her child, Krummel said.
An apartment employee later knocked on the door to answer a maintenance request. Rodriguez answered the door, and the employee began working, police said. When the employee left, the woman and her child left with him.
Rodriguez stayed behind, stole her purse and left, police said.
Police were able to track Rodriguez down because he had put a number into her phone when they'd discussed employment opportunities earlier at the store, police said. Police got in touch with Rodriguez's sister through this number.
The victim identified Rodriguez in a photo lineup, police said.
During a news conference Monday, Krummel thanked the victim for coming forward. She is extremely shaken up after this, he said, and "rightfully so. It's a very horrific crime."
"But she is very relieved that we were able to get him off the streets," Krummel said.