http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2009/05/25/news/local/0166b6d01b808579862575c100123cee.txt SOUTH SIOUX CITY -- Although De Jesus Melisio-Camacho had blood on his shirt when a South Sioux City police officer stopped him early Saturday morning, he had a reasonable explanation -- he was walking home after a scuffle with friends. And, since Melisio-Camacho didn't fit the description of the man the officer was looking for, he let hm go.
South Sioux City Police Chief Scot Ford said that interaction probably happened just minutes after a 3-year-old girl was sodomized, raped and killed in her South Sioux City home while her family slept, unaware. But police did not yet know of the deadly assault.
At 4:40 a.m. they received the initial call about the killing, from Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City, where the girl was pronounced dead after being taken there by her parents. The police are not releasing the name or address of the victim or her family in order to protect their privacy.
The timing and location of the killing, coupled with "sketchy information" from the girl's brother, just a few years older than she, jibed with that of the man with the blood on his shirt. The officer had taken the man's name and description. An "attempt to locate" bulletin was put out throughout the area. Eighty minutes after the call from Mercy, Sioux City police were arresting Melisio-Camacho as a suspect in the assault and death of the toddler.
Ford said Sunday that Melisio-Camacho, 29, and the girl's family may have been friends in Mexico.
However, he said, authorities have not been able to substantiate Melisio-Camacho's background. He said the suspect doesn't have any identification to show his citizenship in any country or that shows he is in this country legally. He said U.S. Immigration l and Customs Enforcement is already working to determine his identity and will use fingerprints and DNA from the investigation to do so.
The attack took place in the home where the little girl lived with her parents, her brother and a months-old sister. Her mother discovered the crime when she awoke to care for the baby.
Ford said whoever killed the girl apparently entered the home through a window that didn't work properly, a means that would not have made much noise and so did not wake the family inside the small house.
Authorities don't know what motivated the crime.
"What kind of motive can you have for that kind of crime other than mental depravity, predatory activity?" Ford said.
Melisio-Camacho, who gave a Sioux City address, remained in the Woodbury County Jail on Sunday night pending court action on an extradition petition filed by South Sioux City. Ford predicted the suspect would not be taken to the Dakota County Jail until after the holiday weekend. He said he is just pleased he is behind bars.
Ford said he doesn't think there's been a child sexual-assault homicide in South Sioux City since Donna Sue Davis was killed about 50 years ag
Topic: Illegal animal sodomizes rapes and kills 3 yr old (Read 584 times)