SALINAS, CA — A Greenfield man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to the 2009 rape of a Salinas woman in a case that remained unsolved for more than a decade before DNA evidence identified him as the suspect, the Monterey County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Prosecutors said Judge Jennifer J. O'Keefe sentenced 42-year-old Juan Antonio Garcia Jimenez on Thursday.
Jimenez pleaded guilty to forcible rape and admitted to committing the crime during a first-degree burglary.
Prosecutors said Jimenez broke into the victim's home on Dec. 1, 2009, threatened to kill her 18-month-old son if she did not comply, then assaulted and raped her before fleeing.
DNA collected during a sexual assault examination was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, but the case remained unsolved until a database match identified Jimenez in 2023, according to the DA's office.
The renewed investigation was assisted by the Monterey County District Attorney's Cold Case Task Force, which was established in 2020.
Prosecutors said a federal grant supporting DNA testing and cold case investigations helped advance the case to prosecution.
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