An ICE DNA collection program for immigrants helped to nab a serial rapist who has been attacking women across Indianapolis for more than a day, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed.
Illegal immigrant Leonel Catalán-Torreblanca, 51, is now facing 30 charges, including rape, sexual battery, kidnapping, and strangulation related to attacks spanning 2013 to 2024, Fox News Digital reported.
Despite authorities suspecting a link between the sexual assaults, they had not been able to identify Catalan-Torreblanca as a suspect because he was not on the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database.
His only prior criminal history was a misdemeanor DUI arrest, which does not require a DNA swab, according to authorities.
But that changed after a recent ICE raid allowed Catalan-Torreblanca’s DNA profile to be entered into CODIS — and it allegedly matched DNA profiles from the locations of the alleged sexual assaults.
“Incredible work out of @FBIIndianapolis — our FBI teams and partners used advanced DNA technology and our Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to charge the suspect,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a statement on X.
Authorities are “not entirely sure exactly where [Catalan-Torreblanca] is from originally,” but they confirmed he is in the US illegally, FBI Special Agent in Charge Tim O’Malley told Fox News.
After his DNA was confirmed by the FBI on April 22, the alleged serial rapist was tracked down to a relative’s house within four hours.
All of his alleged attacks took place within a 10-block radius on the north side of Indianapolis between March 2013 and January 2024.
On April 26, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office charged Catalan-Torreblanca with five counts rape (Level 1 felony), one count rape (Class A felony), one count attempted rape (Level 1 felony), one count burglary resulting in bodily injury (Class A felony), one count rape (Class B felony), one count criminal confinement (Class B felony), four counts rape (Level 3 felony), four counts of burglary (Level 3 felony), three counts sexual battery (Level 4 felony), one count criminal confinement (Class C felony), two counts sexual battery (Class C felony), four counts criminal confinement (Level 5 felony), one count kidnapping (Level 5 felony), and one count strangulation (Level 6 felony), WTHR reported.
He is currently being held on bond, although it is unclear if ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against him.
The exact circumstances behind the ICE raid that led to Catalan-Torreblanca’s DNA retrieval have not been released.
