Attempt to return phone provides clues
By J.D. Gallop, Florida Today
WEST MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A good Samaritan who found a cell phone in an apartment complex parking lot unwittingly helped police track down the suspect in Friday night’s rape and kidnapping.
Eliezer Ayala, 22, who lived at Windover Health Club apartments, was arrested early Sunday.
Police said another resident of the complex discovered the phone and tried to find its owner by calling a stored number. He reached a woman who was a friend of the 25-year-old victim. The woman called the victim and found out about the rape and kidnapping.
West Melbourne police detectives were contacted about the phone and traced a car next to where the phone was found to Ayala. The phone had been stolen from the victim.
“It was an extreme coincidence,” said Lt. Steve Wilkinson, spokesman for the West Melbourne Police Department. “We were really fortunate to get him so quickly.”
After police traced the car, Ayala was placed under surveillance and then arrested in Melbourne, records showed.
He was was being held at the Brevard County Detention Center late Sunday.
The attack late Friday had several agencies on alert for the vehicle after the woman she said was abducted Friday night from the Wal-Mart parking lot on Palm Bay Road.