A Refugio County man dropped dead while in the middle of raping an elderly woman. Deputies at the Refugio County Sheriff’s Department say it’s the most bizarre case they’ve heard of.
53-year-old Isabel Chavelo Gutierrez was raping a 77-year-old women back on June 2 when he suddenly dropped dead.
"Pretty shocking, yes. Very unusual case," said Sgt. Gary Wright.
Law enforcement says the victim didn’t personally know the rapist but she did report running into him at the local post office.
Investigators say they believe Gutierrez rode his bicycle to the victim’s home before he cut the screen off a window and broke inside.
He reportedly found the woman asleep in bed and woke her up holding a pocket knife to her demanding sex.
He started raping the woman, but had to stop telling the victim he was not feeling well. The victim tells police the man then continued the assault for a few minutes before he collapsed.
"She did say that she smelled liquor on his breath. So, she assumed he passed out from the liquor. She rolled out from under him, got in the car and left," Wright said.
The victim called police and when officers arrived they found Gutierrez unresponsive. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
The sheriff’s office is still waiting on the medical examiner to release the official cause of death. Investigators say they believe Gutierrez died of a heart attack.
The victim wasn’t seriously injured, but law enforcement says the effects of such a horrific attack can be difficult to get over.
Gutierrez was a registered sex offender. He was just released back in 2008 for a 1986 conviction of aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child.
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