AURORA, Colo. — Almost 6,000 days after the crime, Aurora authorities have announced charges and an arrest warrant for a man accused of murdering a woman in her apartment.
Chris Wilcox, senior chief deputy district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, said his office filed charges and an arrest warrant this week charging Salvador Hernandez-Morales, 45, with murder in the death Francisca Perea-Dominguez in 2006.
Hernandez-Morales faces charges of first-degree murder after deliberation, felony first-degree murder, and sexual assault. An active no-bond felony warrant is out for his arrest.
He was identified following DNA testing.
On July 1, 2006 around 3 p.m., officers with the Aurora Police Department responded to an apartment complex at the intersection of S. Troy Street and E. Mississippi Avenue.
When they arrived, they found resident Perea-Dominguez, 42, inside. She was deceased and had a single stab wound to her abdomen, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Witnesses told police that they had seen a man leaving the residence.
DNA was collected from Perea-Dominguez and the crime scene.
“The roommate — Salvador Hernandez Morales — was a person of interest from the get-go," Aurora Det. Jason McDonald said. "It was a matter of confirming he was in fact the perpetrator.”
McDonald, who has worked with the APD for 18 years, said this was one of the first cases he looked at when he became a cold case homicide detective. His predecessor had noted that the case "had potential," and after McDonald scoured through more than 1,000 pages of investigative reports and other documents, he agreed.
That led to identifying evidence that had not yet been tested and then working with the CBI and DA's Office to get DNA information from the items.
He said this case is a good example of the department's cold case motto: We will never forget.
After testing a toothbrush for DNA, detectives learned it matched the DNA from the sexual assault.
“The evolution in DNA technology and their ability to retest an item that maybe didn’t have a sufficient sample five years ago or 10 years ago or 15 years ago changes literally week to week," Wilcox said.
Wilcox explained that his team expects Hernandez-Morales will need to be extradited to Colorado from Mexico — something that will likely take several months. He is not in custody as of this article's publishing time.
McDonald said Perea-Dominguez's family was notified.
Hernandez-Morales is from Toluca, Mexico and authorities believe he fled the United States following the murder. McDonald said he has attempted to return to the United States, but has been deported. The last contact authorities had with him was in 2009 and because there was no arrest warrant for him at the time, he was not held, McDonald said.
Hernandez-Morales is described as standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 135 pounds.
Anybody with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.