Palo Alto police have arrested 29-year-old Richmond, California resident Eduardo Antonio Chavarria-Diaz in connection with the armed sexual assault of a teenage jogger two weeks ago, according to a Monday evening press release from the Palo Alto Police Department (PAPD).
The authorities obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect in the Los Altos incident on Saturday. On Sunday around 11 a.m., members of the PAPD and East Bay Regional Park District Police Department investigators arrested the suspected assaulter “without incident” at a house in Richmond.
Chavarria-Diaz has been charged with three felonies — assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and sexual penetration by force — as a result of the Mar. 28 crime, according to Palo Alto police.
On March 28, Chavarria-Diaz allegedly sexually assaulted a female juvenile jogger at the intersection of Arastradero Road and Deer Creek Road. Police said the suspect, who was hidden in the greenbelt near the sidewalk, pulled the jogger off the path and assaulted her at gunpoint.
Following the incident, the teen was hospitalized but in stable condition.
Over the course of this investigation, police have connected Chavarria-Diaz to a March 4 assault in Oakland, which involved case facts similar to those in the the Los Altos assault.
Investigators are currently working to determine whether Chavarria-Diaz may be connected to additional, unsolved crimes.
Contact Claire Wang at clwang32 ‘at’ stanford.edu and Courtney Douglas at ccd4 ‘at’ stanford.edu.