Queen Creek man arrested in 2015 sexual assault in Maricopa

A Queen Creek man was arrested earlier this month for the alleged rape of a Maricopa woman, a year and three months after the assault took place.

Police records indicate Cody Christopher Grace, 32, was arrested Dec. 15 and charged with the sexual assault of a female Maricopa resident on the morning of Aug. 31, 2015.

According the charges filed by the Maricopa Police Department, after having drinks at True Grit Tavern the night of the incident, Grace and the victim, along with a witness, went to the victim’s Maricopa residence and continued to drink.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 31, Grace allegedly broke into the victim’s locked bedroom and raped the unconscious female.

The victim awoke the next morning to find her bedroom door open. Grace, unable to find his phone anywhere near where he slept, eventually left the residence.

His phone was later found in the victim’s room between the wall and the victim’s bed. In the victim’s room was also a beer bottle that matched a brand that allegedly only Grace had been consuming that night.

A tool was also found on the kitchen counter which was later tested and proven to have been used to open the door. Grace denies the assault took place, though he admitted to using the tool, as well as another that he had thrown on top of a cabinet, to help the victim unlock the door because “she had locked herself out,” the police report said.

After an initial investigation, probable cause was determined and a search warrant was served on Dec. 2, 2015, when DNA was gathered from Grace. Samples from both him and the victim were then sent to an Arizona Department of Public Safety lab for testing.

On Dec. 1, 2016, almost one year later to the day, tests revealed internal and external specimen samples taken from the victim contained Grace’s DNA, indicating the victim had likely been raped, according to the MPD report.

Sexual assault DNA testing labs in Arizona have come under scrutiny in recent years for the excessive backlogs and untested kits. After tremendous media attention, Gov. Doug Ducey signed an executive order in January aimed at assisting Arizona law enforcement with the unusually large number of backlogged and untested rape kits.

It is unclear if the timeline of this arrest was lengthened at all due to backlogs at the DPS lab, or shortened by new found assistance from the governor’s executive order.

InMaricopa.com is continuing to investigate this and other cases of sexual assault, and will follow up when more information as it becomes available.