2003 Silver Spring Rape Suspect Arrested in Texas

DNA from scene matched Texas prisoner

A Texas prisoner has been arrested in connection with a 2003 sexual assault in Silver Spring, Md., Montgomery County police said.

Police learned last year that evidence collected at the rape scene matched DNA taken from David Martinez, who was in custody in Texas after being arrested in 2009 for prostitution solicitation.

Detectives on Thursday returned the 30-year-old Martinez to Montgomery County to face charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, first-degree assault and kidnapping. They had to wait until he completed serving time in Texas.

The sexual assault involved a 23-year-old Silver Spring woman who was attacked after parking her car and walking to her home, police said. As a man walked by her, he pushed the victim to the ground and choked her until she lost consciousness, police said. When she woke, the man was sexually assaulting her.

The man carried the victim to the backseat of a vehicle, drove her to Montgomery Knolls Elementary School and raped her before fleeing in the vehicle, police said.

The detective who investigated the case in 2003 described it as a brutal attack, police said.

It was not immediately clear if Martinez, who is awaiting trial, had a lawyer. He is being held without bond.

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