A man convicted in an attempted murder that was a cold case was sentenced Monday to 144 years in prison.
Ray Ojeda, 44, was sentenced in Denver District Court for the kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted murder of a teenage girl in 1997.
The term — 48 years, consecutively, on each count — is the , according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
On June 14, 1997, a 15-year-old girl was walking home near Federal Boulevard and Holden Place when Ojeda kidnapped her at gunpoint and took her to a secluded area near the South Platte River at East 64th Avenue and York Street, according to a Denver District Attorney’s Office media release.
“Ojeda sexually assaulted her, then shot her in the head and threw her in the river,” prosecutors said.
The victim, however, was able to walk a half-mile to Interstate 270 and flag down a passerby for help.
The case went unsolved until 2011 when Ojeda was convicted of a felony marijuana charge in Texas. Ojeda’s DNA was submitted to a data base and it connected him to the 1997 Denver case.
“The match not only led to the arrest and conviction of Ojeda,” the DA’s office said, “but also exonerated two men who had been identified earlier as possible suspects in the case.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson
