Victim’s college essay prompts search for molestation suspect
Sep 24, 2014, 8:54 AM | Updated: 10:00 am
Tacoma Police have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for a Pierce County man after a young woman wrote her college essay about an assault that allegedly occurred over 10 years ago.
“The victim was completing her application to the University of Washington,” said Officer Shelbie Boyd. “In that application, she filled out a short essay and detailed some abuse that happened to her when she was six.”
The essay was forwarded from the University of Washington to Child Protective Services, who notified police.
When investigators interviewed the woman, she told them a neighbor nicknamed “Lalo” invited her and her sister over to play video games and then molested them.
The woman was able to tell detectives what her address was at that age, described the suspect’s house, and also told them the names of the suspect’s children.
Police eventually pieced together enough information to issue a bench warrant for a 58-year-old Everardo Miranda.
Miranda’s wife said police were a month too late and he had fled to Mexico, for good.
But Boyd said that’s not confirmed. “Time will tell. Someone will hopefully come across him, call the police, and we’ll get him back here in Tacoma.”
KIRO Radio’s Jillian Raftery contributed to this report.
