Former Pasco Officer Charged with Third Degree Rape

Former Pasco Police Detective Richard Aguirre has been formally charged with 3rd Degree Rape, stemming from a sexual assault that occurred last November. Authorities have not released details of the attack, or where it occurred.

Spokane officials are continuing their investigation into DNA samples taken from a 29-year-old murder case, in which Aguirre's DNA created a "hit" in a national DNA database.

If you watch any amount of TV, whether it's Criminal Minds or CSI, you've heard them mention CODIS.  It's the Combined DNA Index System, that was created after the development of DNA identification.  While DNA testing did not exist back in 1986 when Ruby Doss was found strangled in Spokane,  evidence collection was still pretty much the same.

Authorities took numerous swabs on the victim's hands, under fingernails, skin and other areas, and the evidence was stored.  Numerous cases in the last 10-15 years across the country have resulted in suspects being identified by cold cases having their DNA run through CODIS.

Apparently, that was the situation in Spokane.  When Aguirre's DNA was swabbed in the sexual assault case, it provided a "hit" or match in CODIS.

Spokane authorities have not filed charges yet in the death of Doss, who was found strangled to death by a homeless person in a run-down area of Spokane in 1986. Authorities also plan to match his DNA against several other cases whose facts seem to match those of the Doss case.

Aguirre is set to be arraigned in Franklin County Superior Court May 5th.