Man charged in 2001 rape of girl in Fairhaven after evidence kit finally tested under new program
FAIRHAVEN - There's been a break in another cold case in Massachusetts, thanks to an untested rape kit initiative at the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
A federal grant allowed the office to test 1,148 kits in the county that hadn't been fully tested in previous years.
One of them led to the indictment this week of 37-year-old Patrick Avila of Attleboro. He's now charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in Fairhaven in October 2001.
According to Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn, this is now the fourth cold case solved by the initiative since it started in April 2021. They hope to have all the rape kit testing finished "within the next month or two," Quinn said in a statement Wednesday.
Investigators say the girl was raped in a car on October 26, 2001 by 17-year old Brandon St. Don. A witness stopped the attack. St. Don was later convicted and went to prison.
The victim submitted to a rape kit after the attack, but it was never fully tested by the state lab until recently.
The new testing revealed that Avila's DNA was found on oral swabs from the rape kit.
Investigators said Avila was there when the witness found the victim in the car that night and when she was brought into a home afterwards.
She knew Avila, didn't have a relationship with him, had no memory of seeing him that night, and never consented to any sex with him, the D.A. said.
"When recently advised that there was evidence of sexual contact with Avila on that date, the victim was shocked and upset. It is now alleged that defendant Avila sexually assaulted the young victim in the basement after she had already been raped by St. Don," Quinn said.
"If the victim's rape kit had been fully tested, this defendant would have been arrested and charged in connection with this incident 12 years ago."
Avila's DNA had been in the system since 2010 after he was convicted of a felony.
He was arraigned Tuesday in Fall River Superior Court and released on $10,000 cash bail. He's due back in court February 7.
