DNA evidence helps MCSO make arrest in 2008 sexual assault of 13-year-old girl

PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office arrested a suspect in a 2008 sexual assault case involving a 13-year-old girl after he was identified through DNA evidence.

The victim, whose name was not released, didn’t live to see an arrest made, MCSO said in a press release Monday. She died in 2015, three years before DNA technology created a break in the cold case.

The teen allegedly was lured into a bedroom and sexually assaulted by two males during a party in June 2008. She knew the perpetrators only as Alex and Ryan.

MCSO Special Victims Unit investigators were unable to identify the suspects, and the case went inactive in 2009 after the victim said she didn’t want to continue participating.

MCSO submitted case evidence for analysis in 2017 after receiving a grant to process untested sexual assault kits. Male DNA was found on an evidence item and entered into the national DNA database known as CODIS.

The case was reopened after 33-year-old Alexander Rzeczycki was identified through a potential DNA match in August 2018.

MCSO eventually submitted the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which presented it to a grand jury. The grand jury indicted Rzeczycki and issued a warrant for his arrest in April.

Rzeczycki was arrested Wednesday and booked into jail on one count of sexual conduct with a minor, MCSO said.

Investigators are still searching for the second suspect. Anybody with information about the case was asked to contact MCSO at 602-876-TIPS (8477) with a notation of “IR08-112002.”

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