Update: West Haven Man Charged In 'Heinous' Attack Of Jogger In New Haven: Police

NEW HAVEN, CT — A West Haven man is charged in the August rape of a woman jogger in Fort Hale Park. Armed with a box cutter, police said, Ludvi Carias-Interiano, 34, attacked and raped the woman who was on an 8 a.m. morning run in a wooded area of the park Aug. 9, police said. After the assault, the assailant fled and was not found.

New Haven Chief of Police Karl Jacobson and Mayor Justin Elicker held a short news briefing early Friday morning.

Jacobson said that the FBI informed police that Carias-Interiano "had in fact been deported in the past."

"We were alerted this morning that immigration officials have gotten a criminal detainer on him as well," Jacobson said.

Elicker noted that while Carias-Interiano is “undocumented, it was the New Haven Police Department that arrested him,”not immigration agents.

Jacobson thanked the woman for "her courage" noting she was "very shaken up but was focused on helping us find out who did this."

According to police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart, the case was assigned to Detective Samantha Romano of the Special Victims Unit. Romano was able to develop probable cause to arrest Carias-Interiano, who was taken into custody at his home on Thursday morning.

He has been charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault in the 1st Degree and Unlawful Restraint in the 1st Degree and is currently being held on a $750,000 bond.

Jacobson said that the state Forensic Science Laboratory tested DNA evidence gathered from the crime scene, "a key piece of this," and he said a "hit was developed." Romano, working with the FBI and the victim, created a sketch of the attacker. With the assistance of the state crime lab, a DNA profile was created, and run through a national crime database. The SVU detective, working under Sgt. Cherelle Carr, learned that Carias-Interiano was linked to an unsolved 2016 sex assault case in Plano, Texas, and police there were able to help with an identification.

Next, Romano was able to locate him at a residence in West Haven.

"I would first like to extend our support to the victim of this heinous attack," said Assistant Chief David Zannelli, who oversees the Investigative Services Division. "She has been extremely courageous during this ordeal as our detectives worked tirelessly to identify and locate the suspect. This was fantastic police work, and I cannot speak highly enough of the work done by Detective Samantha Romano, her supervisor Sergeant Cherelle Carr, and the entire Special Victims Unit."

Zannelli added thanks to "federal partners, the State’s Attorney’s office, the State forensic laboratory, along with the Plano Police Department in Texas."