By Khalida Sarwari
A DNA match led to the arrest of a man on Thursday in connection with a sexual assault in Santa Cruz last year, according to police.
Octavio Castillo, 18, was arrested on a warrant near his home in Watsonville on suspicion of severely beating and sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman before leaving her on the side of Ranport Road just outside of Watsonville in the early morning hours on Oct. 16, 2010, police said.
A passerby eventually came to her aid.
Castillo allegedly attacked the victim, who was intoxicated, as she was walking home from a party in Santa Cruz, police said.
A match in the Combined DNA Index System identified Castillo as a suspect, police said.
Evidence was taken from the victim and processed by the Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Sciences DNA lab, which then developed a profile of a male suspect that was entered into the DNA database.
Police were notified of a match on Tuesday after Castillo was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and auto burglary in February and detectives collected his DNA sample.
Castillo was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on suspicion of sodomy, kidnapping and battery with serious bodily injury.