by | Published
A nearly two-decades old cold case in Mills County, Texas, has been successfully solved by the combined efforts of the Texas Rangers and local law enforcement.
Last month, the 35th Judicial District Court of Mills County handed down a conviction to 41-year-old Jessie Rodriquez for attempted aggravated sexual assault, a second-degree felony. Rodriquez has been sentenced to the maximum term of 20 years in prison.
The charges and subsequent conviction are related to a harrowing incident that occurred on the early morning of August 13, 2005. Rodriquez broke into a residence, armed with a knife taken from the kitchen. He entered a bedroom where a 21-year-old woman was sleeping, threatening her with the knife in an attempt to commit sexual assault. The brave victim managed to wrestle the weapon away, and both parties sustained injuries during the struggle. Rodriquez left a drop of blood at the scene before fleeing.
The breakthrough in this cold case came after Sheriff's investigators recovered the blood and a forensic scientist from the Texas DPS Crime Lab developed a single source DNA profile. Despite initial efforts to identify a match in CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, investigators faced challenges until recent advancements.
In 2021, the Texas Rangers collaborated with the Mills County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a CODIS familial DNA search. This became possible through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), a federal grant supported by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), which funds advanced DNA testing.
Utilizing SAKI, DPS Crime Labs in Waco and Garland, along with the CODIS section in Austin, analyzed the single source profile against over a million profiles in CODIS for a familial match. The results identified a convicted felon in CODIS who shared a paternal relative with the unknown profile, now confirmed as Rodriquez.
The Texas Rangers provided this crucial information to the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, which, armed with the new lead, developed a suspect through genealogy. After surveillance and collection of a DNA sample, forensic scientists from the DPS Lab in Waco confirmed Rodriquez's true identity. In December 2023, he pleaded guilty to the crime.
The Texas Rangers expressed gratitude to the DPS Crime Lab forensic scientists in Waco, Garland, and the Austin CODIS section, as well as the Mills County Sheriff’s Office and 35th Judicial District Attorney's Office, for their collective efforts in bringing closure to this long-standing cold case.
About the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) project is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to help with the collection of DNA belonging to potential suspects. The program is designed to identify and prosecute violent serial sex offenders and aids in preventing a high number of unsubmitted sexual assault kits in the future.
DPS began participating in SAKI in 2019, when the Texas Rangers received two grants from the BJA. The funding is used for the collection and entry of lawfully owned DNA into CODIS and the investigation and prosecution of sexually related cold case homicides and sexual assault cases. The Texas Rangers utilize SAKI grant money for genetic genealogy testing of DNA samples from unknown offenders linked to sexual assaults and sexually related homicides to solve these cases, while working with other law enforcement agencies.
