Content note: description of sexual assault
This article was originally published in The Examiner on Nov. 23, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
A man currently serving time for robbery has now been charged with a 1997 rape in Lake Charles.
Lorenoza Danela Carlos, 41, was served a warrant for aggravated rape Nov. 15 by authorities from Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office, Lake Charles Deputy Police Chief Mark Kraus said in a news release.
The sex crimes unit with the Lake Charles Police Department pulled this cold case from files in May 2017 and reopened the investigation.
The victim said that she came home about 1 a.m. January 10, 1997.
Shortly after she fell asleep, someone gained entry into her residence through a window, bound her hands while armed with a knife and sexually assaulted her.
The victim made attempts to get free, but the suspect tied her up tighter, assaulted her again and then fled the scene. She then ran to her parents’ home nearby yelling for help.
Evidence was recovered from the crime scene in 1997 and preserved, but DNA testing in July 2017 revealed a match to Lorenoza Danela Carlos, investigators said.
After further investigation, the Lake Charles Police Department presented an affidavit for arrest to a 14th Judicial Judge on Nov. 14, and the judge set a bond of $800,000.
Carlos was served with the warrant Nov. 15 in the Avoyelles Parish Correctional Center where he is currently serving a 20-year sentence for a first-degree robbery he committed in 2004.
Eleanor Skelton 