Angel Gurule was arrested on January 16, 2020 and charged in a sexual assault that took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Christmas Eve of 2015. A woman was jogging along a trail near the Rio Grande when she was tackled from behind, overpowered, and sexually assaulted twice. She went to a rape crisis centre and a sexual assault kit was taken.
A DNA profile of the suspect was obtained from the sexual assault kit and uploaded into CODIS but there were no hits. The Bernalillo County District Attorney received a federal grant from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative to use genealogy to locate suspects in cases such as this one. There is currently no information as to who conducted the FGG investigation.
Investigators identified Gurule through a second cousin in California who uploaded his DNA to GEDmatch. Police surveillance of Gurule followed by surreptitious sampling of a cup was used to make the initial confirmation with the crime scene DNA.
Gurule pled guilty to two counts of sexual penetration and received a sentence of 12 years in prison followed by probation and parole.
Sources:
Atkins, Rebecca, and Jackie Kent. “Genealogy Matching Used to Make First Arrest of Its Kind in New Mexico.” KRQE News, January 16, 2020, last modified January 28, 2020. Accessed December 21, 2020. https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/dna-genealogy-used-to-make-first-arrest-of-its-kind-in-new-mexico/?fbclid=IwAR0X-ycv-LwllhZi3LjMpks-sSAJYJfVpRG6I_qtxpssAs5XzLzt0XDYda8.
Boetel, Ryan. “Man Pleads Guilty in NM’s First-Of-Its-Kind Rape Investigation.” Albuquerque Journal, May 4, 2020, last modified May 5, 2020. Accessed December 21, 2020. https://www.abqjournal.com/1451248/man-pleads-guilty-in-nms-firstofitskind-rape-investigation-ex-commercial-genealogy-service-led-to-suspects-id-arrest.html.
KQRE Staff. “Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to 2015 Rape.” KRQE News, August 5, 2020, last modified August 6, 2020. Accessed December 21, 2020. https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/sentencing-underway-for-man-who-pleaded-guilty-to-cold-case-rape/.