DNA Evidence Cracks 1998 Sexual Assault Case, Leading to Arrest of San Antonio Man

The 55-year-old man is being held on suspicion of sexually abusing a teenage girl in 1998. Police say DNA evidence helped them link him to the crime.

Arthur Quiroga was nabbed by police in San Antonio on Tuesday. He is being charged with sexual assault for a crime that happened 26 years ago.

According to Washington Moscoso, the public information officer for SAPD, on July 21, 1998, they were called to the south side of the city for a report of a sexual attack on a child. The suspect is said to have threatened and kidnapped the girl with a gun and then sexually assaulted her.

“She [the victim] didn’t know him…we [SAPD] didn’t know who he was at the time,” Moscoso said. “Had it not been for the CODIS kit…he had not been on our radar.”

Police found the victim and took them to a nearby hospital, where a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE) was done.

It wasn’t until more than 25 years later that cops finally found a suspect. Police in the SVU matched the suspect’s DNA to a sample from the 1998 case on June 27, Moscoso said as reported by Kens5 News.

Then a search warrant was made for Quiroga’s DNA so that it could be compared and confirmed at a crime lab in Bexar County. On July 11, Moscoso said, the results were clear: Quiroga is the person cops have been looking for for almost 30 years.

When Quiroga was caught, he was on probation. He has been in trouble with the law since the 1980s.

“As a department… we don’t stop trying to find justice for any kind of victim that comes to us for help,” said Moscoso. “We are just so grateful that we were able to effect this arrest today and try to get this victim some closure and one step closer to justice.”