TYLER, Texas (KLTV). A Tyler man was charged with several counts of kidnapping as well as sexual assault that started 20 years ago.
After a series of crimes that spanned nearly two decades, an arrest affidavit for the defendant was filed on March 21. Three victims were allegedly sexually assaulted on three different occasions by the defendant, two of which were abducted. The string began in 2003. These are the facts, as presented by the investigator. He is a Texas Ranger who specializes on cold cases.
Incident One
Unnamed victims were reportedly kidnapped, raped and assaulted in Tyler on August 16, 2003. The following report was provided by Victim One (as they will be called in this reporting).
The attacker was a Hispanic male, aged between 25 and 26 years. He was tall and muscular with no facial hair. His black hair was curly and his brown eyes were deep. Victim One believed that he was American born, despite his Spanish-speaking accent. He identified himself as “Raul,” though he later told the victim that this was not his real name.
Victim One noticed the name “Vincente” on the screen of a cell phone, which rang several times in the car throughout the incident. Victim One described the attacker’s car as a red four-door with blue interior, chrome-spoke wheels, and a Texas license plate with the number L52RRR.
The crime was never committed and no suspect was ever arrested.
Incident Two
On December 11, 2012, an unnamed victim was reportedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted in Tyler by two attackers, who will be referred to as “the driver” and “the passenger.” Victim Two, as they will be referred to in this reporting, gave the following account.
According to the passenger, he was a Hispanic man in his 30s. He measured six-foot-to-six-foot-two and was tall. He had a neatly cut mustache and full cheeks. Victim Two said to the passenger that she was 30 years old, and he replied that he was much younger than her.
The driver was described by Victim Two as a Hispanic man in his mid 30′s who was shorter than the passenger. He was said to have glasses and a mustache. He was referred to by the passenger as “Luis.” Victim Two described the vehicle as a green Ford “access cab pickup,” with a rosary hanging from the rear-view mirror.
Again, no suspect was charged based on the victim’s report at the time.
Incident Three
Unnamed victims were allegedly sexually assaulted on April 29, 2016 after they entered the vehicle of someone they believed they recognized. This reporting will include Victim Three. They provided the following details about the incident.
The attacker was described by Victim Three as a Hispanic male, aged between 30 and 35 years, of medium build, dark curly hair, and heavy build. Victim Three described the attacker’s car as a dark-colored, newer model SUV with large chrome tires, Zebra print seat covers and split rear doors.
Again, no one was ever charged with the crime.
The Suspect
Each case included DNA from the victims of the attack. Through Texas DPS Crime Laboratory reports, the investigator discovered that DNA from the first attacker and the victim in the second attack all match the profile of an unidentified male. Based on the similarities between the victims’ descriptions and past records in Smith County, the investigator now suspects that Vincente Rodriquez Zavaleta (44), of Tyler, has a criminal record going back to 1999.
Similarities
Around the time of the attack on Victim One, Smith County Jail records listed Zavaleta as having a build and look very similar to the victim’s description. The victim thought that Zavaleta was between 25 and 26 years old at the time. Victim One described the car as a red four-door sedan with license plate L52RRR. Zavaleta reported that his four-door Geo Prizm, maroon and four-door, had suffered damage in 2002.
Two traffic citations were given to Vincente Zavaleta, and Andres Zvaleta at the scene of Victim Two’s attack. They were issued for driving a 2001 Chevrolet extendedcab pickup in two separate traffic stops. Their descriptions provided by the officers after the traffic stops closely matched those given of the driver and the passenger in Victim Two’s attack. Vincente Zavaleta would have been 34 at the time, and Victim Two had estimated him to be mid 30′s.
Around the time of the attack on Victim Three, Zavaleta had been reported as driving a black Lincoln Navigator in an assault case, which lines up with Victim Three’s description of a dark SUV.
As a result of Zavaleta’s closely matching history of physical appearance and vehicles, the samples of DNA from the victims were entered into the Combined DNA Index System, where it was found that Zavaleta had never been required to submit his DNA in the past, and was therefore not able to be implicated based on his own DNA.
As an act of recourse, a man suspected to be Zavaleta’s 22-year-old son was found and approached at his workplace in Smith County by the investigator on Oct. 27, 2022. A sample of his DNA was taken and he agreed to give it. It was sent back for comparison on November 1.
On Jan. 26, the DPS laboratory compared the suspected sons’ DNA sample to DNA which was found on a garment worn by one of the victims. The victim’s DNA was confirmed to be Vincente Rodriquez Zavaleta.
Zavaleta, who was 19 years old and had been convicted of his first alleged crime seven months prior to this arrest, was charged with felony sexual assault. He is currently being held at the Smith County Jail with $500,000 in total bonds.
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