Hotline breaks 12-year-old rape cold case

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SALT LAKE CITY — She was 16 when she was allegedly grabbed off the street by two gang members, taken to a field and raped by both men.

More than a decade later, that girl, who asked her name not be released, did not give up trying to bring the men who allegedly assaulted her to justice. So in 2017, when the Department of Public Safety and the Utah State Crime Lab announced a new hotline had been established as part of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, the woman was one of the first to call and check on the status of the rape kit submitted on her behalf.

This week, her inquiry resulted in charges being filed.

"It's because of her contacting the information line that her kit was identified, that her kit was tested, that her kit was investigated and now filed," said Krystal Hazlett, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative site coordinator.

In 2015, the Utah Department of Public Safety received a federal grant for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The grant came on the heels of a 2014 study that found law enforcement agencies had 2,690 submitted sexual assault kits that had not been processed.

In 2017, that program was expanded so survivors could track the progress of their kits online thanks to another $2.2 million federal grant.

Frank P. Benavidez, 31, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery, all first-degree felonies. Benavidez is already incarcerated at the Utah State Prison in Gunnison for his role in a high-profile murder in Salt Lake City that happened two years after the alleged rape.

In July 2006, the then-16-year-old girl was walking near 300 S. Cheyenne Street in Salt Lake City when she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two men in a car, taken to a field and raped by both men, according to charging documents, allegedly over her affiliation with rival gang members.

The woman was then driven to another location and kicked out of the car. The woman, who recognized one of her attackers as a gang member, went "to the hospital where a rape kit was conducted and DNA was collected. The kit was sent to the Utah State Lab for testing," the charges state.

But in 2006, the State Crime Lab was short on resources, DNA technology wasn't as advanced as it is today, and the policies on testing kits were different. When a rape kit was submitted it was given an initial screening, or a partial test. But unless the law enforcement agency investigating the case specifically requested that a kit be given a full testing, it was shelved, said State Crime Lab Director Jay Henry.

In the case of the 2006 alleged gang rape, the teen's rape kit was partially tested and shelved, according to police. That's why when Benavidez was arrested for murder two years later, there was no DNA to compare it to in the national database.

Today, all rape kits are fully tested. Henry said eventually the woman's kit would have been tested, even if the woman hadn't called, as the Crime Lab continues going through its backlog of cases.

But because the woman called the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative hotline, she was essentially moved to the front of the line, according to the Department of Public Safety.

On June 5, 2018, a DNA database search matched with Benavidez.

Thursday, members of the Salt Lake City Police Department and Utah State Crime Lab praised the survivor and encouraged others like her to take advantage of the hotline.

"We want more survivors to inquire about their kits," said the initiative's victim advocate, Lauren DeVries.

Salt Lake police detective Keith Horrocks said investigators were also following leads to identify the second man in the assault.

The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative hotline launched a year ago. As of July, 3,483 previously unsubmitted and untested sexual assault kits had been submitted to the crime lab for testing. Henry said there is still a backlog of about 1,000 to 1,500 cold case, untested and partially tested kits that need to be fully tested. In addition, the State Crime Lab will receive an estimated 1,500 new kits this year alone.

Other survivors who have a sexual assault kit in their case and want to know its status call the initiative's information line 801-893-1145.

Benavidez is already serving a sentence of 16 years to life in prison for a conviction of being an accessory to murder. On July 6, 2008, 7-year-old Maria Del Carmen Menchaca was playing in the front yard of her house on the corner of 800 West and Fremont Avenue when a vehicle with three gang members drove by and fired several rounds intended for a rival gang member that lived at the residence.

Instead, a stray bullet struck and killed Maria.

Gabriel Alejandro Alvarez fired the fatal shot that killed the young girl. Benavidez was the driver. Mae Goodman Johnson, then 16, handed the gun to Alvarez in the car. All were convicted and sentenced to prison.

Those who have experienced sexual abuse or assault can get assistance from Utah's statewide 24-hour Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 888-421-1100.