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Jury hears interview with child rape suspect

Nick Daggy/Staff photographer Alfredo "Mario" Lopez-Cruz (center) appeared in Butler County Common Pleas Court for his first day of trial Jan. 30, 2012.

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer Updated 7:45 PM Tuesday, January 31, 2012

HAMILTON — Alfredo “Mario” Lopez-Cruz, Butler County’s former most wanted fugitive, during a taped interview with police says the girl he allegedly raped came to him for beer and marijuana, but he can’t recall any sex because he blacked out.

The interview was shown to jurors during day 2 of the trial of Lopez-Cruz, 32, who is accused of raping a 9-year-old Hamilton girl on Fathers Day 2005. After the alleged attack he fled the scene and eventually the country and was returned to Butler County in September. Hamilton Police Sgt. Mark Hayes questioned the defendant for hours in September and Lopez-Cruz had a good memory of some of the events, but not all.

“I can’t tell you that I did this...,” he said through a Spanish interpreter in the interview. “I blacked out, passed out.”

On the tape he remembers the girl coming into his house and drinking two beers and that she was writing something. The girl, who is now 15, testified on Monday he forced her to drink beer and demanded she write her name on the wall of the bedroom.

He also remembers waking up to the girl’s father wielding a baseball bat and yelling at him along with the girl’s grandmother. He said he knocked the bat away and fled. Some testimony had him running naked out of the house but he remembers wearing boxers.

When Hayes asked why he would have taken off his pants if no sex occurred, he said he couldn’t explain it.

Another witness for the prosecution, Dr. Jonathan Thackeray, who examined the girl at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and did a rape kit, testified he found saliva on the girl’s chest and the back of her thighs. Since the interview with Lopez-Cruz police have matched the DNA to defendant, according to Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McElfresh.

The girl testified a man with a mole and a bird tattoo on his shoulder beckoned her over and then carried her, on her bicycle, up the stairs to his home. She said he then carried her “like a baby” up to his bedroom and slapped her when she screamed. On the tape shown on Tuesday Hayes asked Lopez-Cruz to remove his shirt, it revealed he is not tattooed.

Earlier in the day Judge Keith Spaeth denied a defense motion for a mistrial, after defense attorney Lawrence Hawkins questioned the tactics Hamilton police used to try and identify the suspect.

Spaeth denied the mistrial motion.

Jurors also heard from the victim’s grandmother. Her testimony was a bit different from the victim’s who took the stand on Monday. The victim said her dad ran across the street to the scene of the alleged attack first while her grandmother dialed 911. The grandmother said it was the other way around. When Hawkins called her on the discrepancy she broke down in tears and said “It was six years ago.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

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