ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque man pleaded not guilty to 24-year-old cold case rape. Edward Duran, 63-year-old, was arrested last month after investigators say his DNA linked him to the crime. In July of 1997, a woman says she was held at knifepoint and sexually assaulted in her apartment off Eubank.
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The rape kit was part of the rape kit backlog and was not tested until 2020. District Attorney Raul Torrez says it initially did not match any DNA in the database but investigators used forensic genealogy to match the DNA to a relative of Duran’s and eventually got a direct match to his.
Torrez says his office is now in the process of looking at seven other cases where Duran is suspected. Duran has another hearing Tuesday to determine if he will be allowed out on bail while he awaits trial in this case.
