Weld County prosecutors have filed charges against two men accused in a woman’s 1984 kidnapping and sexual assault in Greeley, crediting DNA testing with cracking the cold case.
Rusty Gene Barnhart, 56, and Inocencio Trevino, 48, each face a charge of second-degree kidnapping — a Class 2 felony — in the alleged attack.
Authorities say they were prohibited from charging the pair with sexual assault because of Colorado’s statute of limitations.
Barnhart and Trevino are accused of assaulting the woman on July 31, 1984, as she was walking home from her shift at Denny’s. Prosecutors say they pulled her into an alley, threatened to kill her and then sexually assaulted her.
The county district attorney’s office said in a news release Thursday that the charges stem from DNA testing required by legislation passed in 2014.
Colorado Department of Corrections records show Trevino is being held at the Sterling Correctional Facility — a prison — in connection with convictions in separate cases.
Detectives found Barnhart in Texas where he was living as a registered sex offender, according to arrest documents.
Prosecutors say Barnhart is scheduled for a disposition hearing in the case on May 16. Trevnio is due before a judge on May 3 for a status conference on the kidnapping accusations.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
