N.M. authorities after suspect's DNA

<p>A man wanted for questioning in the August 2003 slaying of a New Mexico State University student has been arrested in connection with the abduction and attempted murder of a Wisconsin woman.</p><p>Juan Nieto, 24, was apprehended Monday at an apartment in DeKalb County, Ga., Brown County Chief Deputy John Gossage said.</p><p>A fugitive warrant was issued for Nieto in July, charging that he and Gregario Morales kidnapped a woman from outside a Green Bay nightclub on Aug. 19, 2003, drove her to a field outside town, sexually assaulted her and then doused her with lighter fluid and set her on fire.</p><p>The 26-year-old Green Bay mother of two was left for dead but sought help at a nearby house, Gossage said.</p><p>Morales, 27, was picked up in July in Dexter, N.M., and remains in the Brown County Jail on charges of being a party to the crimes of kidnapping, second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim and first-degree attempted homicide. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 12.</p><p>Detectives in southern New Mexico want to talk to Nieto about the Aug. 31, 2003, slaying of Kathryn "Katie" Sepich in Las Cruces. She was strangled, sexually assaulted and parts of her body had been burned.</p><p>Morales has denied involvement in the Sepich murder.</p><p>More than 80 people have been interviewed during the investigation and DNA taken from all those interviewed.</p><p>Green Bay investigators flew to Atlanta on Monday armed with a warrant to secure DNA from Nieto and prepare his extradition. DNA results will be made available to Las Cruces authorities.</p><p>Morales and Nieto had been working in Brown County at the time of the Wisconsin assault and were identified through the woman's description and DNA samples collected by their Wisconsin employer, Gossage said.</p><p>The case was featured Nov. 13 on America's Most Wanted, Gossage said, but investigators still are sorting through the more than 300 tips they received and aren't sure whether any were related to the arrest.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/12/155568