32 years after woman kidnapped, 2 men charged

Nearly 32 years after a woman was raped and kidnapped on her way home from work, two men are being partially charged in the case.

Weld County District Attorney Michael J. Rourke is charging Rusty Gene Barnhart, 56, and Inocencio Trevino, 48, with 2nd degree kidnapping, a class 2 felony.

They were arrested after their DNA matched DNA from the case, prosecutors said.

The victim told police she was walking home after her shift at Denny's on July 31, 1984, when two unknown men pulled her in to an alley, threatened to kill her, and sexually assaulted her.

"At one point the assailants moved her to another location to complete their assault after a car had driven by," prosecutors said.

DNA from the case was tested thirty years later, in 2014, after a new law provided funding for testing evidence of unsolved sexual assault investigations. Denver7 Investigates pushed for that law after learning that many rape kits went untested in Colorado.

The suspects in this case are being charged with kidnapping, and not sexual assault, because of the current statute of limitations for sexual assault crimes, prosecutors said.

Trevino, who is currently in the Department of Corrections, denied the allegations when questioned by police, according to the arrest affidavit.

Barnhart initially denied any involvement, but after being told about the DNA, he said he remembered having sex with a woman behind a building, according to the arrest affidavit. Barnhart was arrested in Texas.