Affidavit: Waco man sexually assaulted homeless woman, attempted to hit victim with his car
WACO, Texas (KWTX) – UPDATE: Eric Miguel Zapata has been indicted on with sexual assault.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
A Waco man is currently in custody for the sexual assault of a homeless woman that occurred in the 1200 block of Lake Air Drive at around 9:20 p.m. on October 14, 2023.
Eric Miguel Zapata, 25, has been charged with sexual assault, a second-degree felony, and is currently being held at the McLennan County Jail.
An arrest warrant affidavit states the victim was walking through a parking lot in the 4200 block of Franklin Avenue when she was approached by an “Hispanic male in his mid-twenties with a stocky build” who was driving a gray car and asked if she was homeless. She responded that she was.
The man asked if she was hungry and she got into his vehicle under the impression that they were going to get food, the document states. The victim said that the man “started acting weird” and she asked to be let out of the car.
She was then taken to the parking lot of an abandoned building where the sexual assault occurred, the document states. Zapata allegedly struck the victim in the back of the head during the assault.
The victim attempted to escape and was pursued by Zapata as if he were trying to hit her with his car, the affidavit further alleges.
According to the affidavit, the victim was able to provide police with the license plate of Zapata’s vehicle. Initially, the plate number did not return any information.
However, when the detective changed an E in the plate number provided by the victim to an F, a database returned information for a gray 2012 Nissan vehicle registered under the name of the mother of Zapata’s children, the affidavit states.
When interviewed by police, the mother said Zapata was currently using the vehicle and the two were not living together, the affidavit states.
Police then obtained a search warrant for Zapata’s phone records, which included location services. Records were mapped by a crime analysis who confirmed Zapata’s device was at the location where the victim was picked up and the location where the assault occurred, the affidavit states.
Zapata was expected to come in willingly for an interview at the Waco Police Department on April 10, but he was arrested for unrelated charges on April 9, the affidavit states.
A detective interviewed Zapata in jail and the suspect “wavered on whether he wanted to give his side of the story,” the affidavit states.
“The only comments he made were that he was an alcoholic and he loved Popeye’s,” the detective wrote in the document.
The detective explained to Zapata how he was identified as the suspect in the sexual assault, but Zapata “did not seem overly surprised or deny it,” the document states.
Zapata’s bond is set at $10,000, according to online jail records.
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