ROGERS (KFSM) – The Rogers Police Department arrested a suspect in a rape case on Sunday (July 20) involving a Craigslist ad, according to court documents.
David Camacho, 22, of Rogers, was arrested after a victim called police on July 19 and said Camacho responded to her Craigslist ad for housecleaning and then when she arrived at his apartment, he held a knife to her throat and raped her, court documents state.
The victim told police she posted the ad online offering to clean houses, and then Camacho called her at 6 p.m. on July 19 asking her to clean his apartment, located in the 600 block of West Easy Street. When she showed up, he pulled her into the apartment, held a knife to her and raped her, according to court documents.
While she was in the apartment, she told police Camacho also showed her a black gun in a black case and said, “You see that?”
The victim told police that she had left her underwear, a black hair band and earrings in the apartment, according to court documents.
The victim was later transported to Northwest Medical Center in Springdale for treatment, court documents state.
Police went to Camacho’s apartment and met his roommate as he pulled into the parking lot. He told police that Camacho lived with him and that Camacho should be the only person in the apartment, according to court documents. He also told police that he wasn’t aware of any firearms in the apartment, court documents state.
Three officers entered the apartment with a ballistic shield and found Camacho wearing a shirt without pants or underwear. He was escorted outside and interviewed by authorities. He informed police he was a little intoxicated, and officers noted in their report that they could smell a slight odor of intoxicants, court documents state.
He told police that there had not been any women in his apartment on July 19, and then he gave them his cell phone number, according to court documents.
Police left the apartment and met with a friend of the victim at the hospital. She was the first person the victim talked to after the rape, and she told police that she used to live next to the victim and was her former neighbor, court documents state.
The victim’s former neighbor told police she hadn’t seen the victim in approximately six weeks, and then the victim showed up banging on her door, stating that she had been raped, according to court documents.
Police asked the former neighbor if the victim had been known to engage in prostitution, and she said the victim had once gone to meet with a male but then said she had never gone through with it. She also told police that she and the victim used to have “sex parties” at her apartment, according to court documents.
The victim was called into the police department to clarify some information with investigators. She was unable to identify Camacho in a photo lineup and said her face was pushed down into the carpet during the rape, so, she never got a clear look at the suspect, court documents state.
She also told police that she took off her earrings during the rape and left them on the floor for evidence, according to court documents.
Police asked her about prostitution ads they found online featuring her as an escort, and she told them her ex-boyfriend posted the ads as an act of revenge after they broke up. She then said that she did not go to Camacho’s apartment to have sex for money, according to court documents.
Detectives later checked the cell phone number Camacho gave them, and it wasn’t registered to him. On July 20, police executed a search warrant on the apartment and entered Camacho’s bedroom. They found a pair of earrings, a black hair band, a silver Faberware knife on the bed, an LG cell phone and a partially open box of condoms with one condom being partly open, court documents state.
Police did not locate the victim’s underwear or the handgun, according to court documents.
During an interview later, police told the suspect about the evidence they found in his room. Camacho changed his story and he said he called an escort service, and a female showed up at his apartment. She wanted $200 for sex, but he only wanted to pay $150, he told police. So, she left, court documents state.
After she was gone, Camacho told police he called another female escort, and she also wanted $200 for an hour of her time. Then, when the victim showed up at his apartment, he grabbed her by the throat with a knife and took her to his bedroom where he raped her, according to court documents.
He said that he was “frustrated” and when asked why he lied to police, he said he was “trying to get away with it,” court documents state.
Police asked Camacho what he would say if he could talk to the victim, and he said he wished he had “paid her and done things the proper way,” according to court documents.
He said he would also apologize for holding a knife to her throat. Camacho told police that he did not pay the victim, and she was in his apartment for approximately 20 minutes, court documents state.
Camacho told police that he had called prostitutes before, but he had never actually raped them. He also said he did not have a gun in the apartment, according to court documents.
He told police he did not plan out the attack. He said he was “horny” and “frustrated” after his first call with a prostitute fell through, and he was even having second thoughts about his plan until he saw the victim through his peep hole in the door. After seeing her, he said he did not want to go through any “whore [expletive] negotiating,” court documents state.
Camacho told police he made up his mind to “do what he wanted to do” to the victim, according to court documents.
When asked why he gave police a false phone number, the suspect said he was “being a coward and did not want to face what happened,” court documents state.
Police left after the interview and talked to the victim once more, asking if she was involved in prostitution. She said she was not, and she had simply posted an ad on Craigslist as a house cleaner, court documents state.
Police noticed a scratch on her neck, and when they asked about it, she said it was from where the knife was held against her throat, according to court documents.
After that interview, authorities went back to Camacho’s apartment and arrested him. He was booked into the Benton County Detention Center and faces charges of aggravated assault and rape, according to the jail’s intake report.
Camacho has previously been arrested on suspicion of multiple charges including public intoxication, second degree criminal mischief, criminal trespassing, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal contempt, according to court documents.
