FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — A suspect has been arrested after DNA linked him to a series of rapes in Fresno County.
Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto says 55-year-old Cesar Flores was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Fresno County.
“Today, we’re announcing our first genealogy based serial rapist case here in Fresno,” said Chief Casto, standing alongside law enforcement and members of the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office at a press conference.
Casto says Flores is accused of five separate rape cases involving women in the City of Fresno and Fresno County from 2016 to 2021.
Those crimes took place in and around southwest Fresno, where Casto says Flores had approached the women in public.
However, it was later revealed that Flores may have also targeted children.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed to Action News that in the later stages of the investigation, detectives discovered Flores had committed sexual crimes against minors.
Investigators are crediting breakthroughs in DNA technology with Flores’ arrest.
For years, only DNA could tie the five rape cases together.
Investigators would not put a name to their suspect until they called on genealogy experts.
“(The expert) was able to help identify a distant relative match to the suspect in this case, or that genetic profile that we identified in another state,” explained Casto. “Further information led them to a female in Fresno with a close familial relationship to the suspect whose DNA profile we had obtained.”
Casto added that Flores also matched the descriptions of the suspect that the victims had given to police.
Flores was booked into the Fresno County Jail on several charges related to sex crimes against adults and children under the age of 14 and 10.
His bail will be set at over $2 million, and if convicted, he faces up to 264 years in prison.
He’s expected to be arraigned Wednesday or Thursday.
Investigators believe Flores may have assaulted others and are asking potential victims or witnesses to come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Steve Taylor with the Fresno Police Department at (559) 621-2490.
