ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. – A man who pleaded guilty late last year to raping and stabbing a Commerce City woman in 1992 was sentenced Monday to 48 years in prison.
Dionicio Ramos-Ascencio, 58, evaded arrest in the case for 25 years before DNA connected him to the 32-year-old woman’s rape and stabbing last year.
According to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Ramos-Ascencio broke into the woman’s home in the 7200 block of East 60th Ave. in Commerce City in July 1992, stabbed the woman in the neck, then beat and raped her before fleeing.
“The 48-year sentence that this defendant received is nothing compared to the sentence that he imposed on this defenseless victim back in 1992,” District Attorney Dave Young said Monday. “She has had to face the trauma of what he did every day of her life. This prosecution came as a result of legislation that allows law enforcement to collect DNA of individuals arrested for felonies. Otherwise, this case would have remained unsolved.”
Ramos-Ascencio was charged with a peeping Tom count in March 2011 after he was caught looking into a person’s window from outside. He later pleaded guilty to third-degree trespassing, a petty offense.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Brett Martin said in court Monday that the 2011 conviction “has a more sinister tone knowing what happened in this case.”
Ramos-Ascencio was also charged with first-degree trespassing last February, to which he pleaded guilty at the end of December.
Adams County District Judge Robert Kiesnowski, Jr. handed Ramos-Ascencio 48 years for both the attempted first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree aggravated sexual assault charges he pleaded guilty to in the Commerce City case. The sentences will be served concurrently.
A mug shot for Ramos-Ascencio was not immediately available.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected after it originally said Ramos-Ascencio was convicted of first-degree murder rather than attempted first-degree murder.
