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Accused rapist captured after more than a year

Deputies: Victim escaped after suspect raped her
Posted at 5:37 PM, Jan 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-19 17:37:00-05

Hillsborough County Deputies arrested a man they say kidnapped and raped a woman in November of 2015.

According to the arrest report, the woman had been out with friends in South Tampa earlier in the evening. She woke up in a strange apartment with a man she never met before. Investigators say DNA evidence points to 28-year-old David Burgos.

The arrest report says the 23-year-old female victim tried to get Burgos off of her, but he strangled her and forced her to have sex with him. During the struggle, the victim scratched Burgos.

The woman was able to escape from the apartment and run to a neighboring apartment to call 911, according to the report.

When deputies attempted to make contact with Burgos, the report says he stayed away from the apartment for several weeks.

Foreign DNA was found on the victim, but without getting a sample from Burgos, charges were never filed.

Investigators finally retrieved a DNA sample from Burgos when he was arrested on a burglary charge in October of 2016.

Investigators say the DNA matched what they found on the victim.

A friend of Burgos says the charges are hard to believe.

"It does not seem like him in anyway," Georg Lugg said.

Lugg had been letting Burgos stay with him off and on for about a year because Burgos had "fallen on hard times." He described Burgos as an Army Veteran, college student and loving father of 2 kids.

"All he did was talk about his kids. I never even heard him talk about girls," Lugg said.