The Commonwealth's Attorney called it "one of the worst rapes the county has seen in a long time" as he laid out the evidence against 27-year-old Roberto Flores-Sibrian in Stafford, Virginia, Tuesday morning.
Flores-Sibrian entered an Alford plea to five charges, including rape and abduction. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges sufficient evidence for a conviction.
At his Jan. 5 sentencing, he will face up to life in prison.
DNA evidence linked Flores-Sibrian to the high-profile crime last Halloween.
The victim was heading home on Kings Highway in the early morning hours of Oct. 31 when an SUV hit her car suddenly. The force of the crash spun her car around and left it stopped in the left turn lane.
Prosecutors say Flores-Sibrian got out of the other car and began approaching her. The victim thought he was coming to exchange information and got out of her car, leaving her cell phone behind.
Flores-Sibrian grabbed her and dragged her across the highway into a deep embankment. Over the course of about two hours, he raped and sodomized her repeatedly, speaking to her in broken Spanish.
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The woman begged for him to leave, promising she'd tell no one.
At one point -- because she was cold -- he gave her his shirt. That shirt later became a key piece of evidence when he left it behind.
He kept asking her to come to his car, but she refused, Commonwealth's attorney Eric Olsen said.
"She was afraid if she went to the car, she wouldn't survive," Olsen said.
He finally left, and she returned to her car and called 911.
The victim worked with the sheriff's office to create a composite sketch.
But a break in the case finally came when a man who knew the suspect came forward to say he saw him at the WaWa in Fredericksburg the morning of the incident.
The witness noticed the man had scratches on his face and that his car was damaged.
Investigators were able to use that information to get a name. They learned the suspect was working on a construction site, and he was arrested 10 days after the crime occurred.
Authorities later determined Flores-Sibrian is an undocumented immigrant, and ICE has placed a detainer on him.
