Overview
- Investigators who had linked five north-side home-invasion assaults by DNA got a detainee hit on April 21st that identified 51-year-old Leonel Catalan.
- After the FBI confirmed the match on April 22nd, IMPD’s Violent Crimes Unit found him at a relative’s home and arrested him within four hours.
- Marion County prosecutors filed about 30 felony counts, including rape, kidnapping, strangulation, and burglary, covering incidents from 2013 through 2024, and they praised survivors who helped build the case.
- The FBI said Catalan is in the United States illegally, and officials have not confirmed his country of origin or whether ICE has placed an immigration detainer.
- CODIS, the FBI’s DNA index, can flag a “detainee hit” when a new sample matches old crime-scene DNA, which helps crack cases where prior offenses like a misdemeanor DUI did not require a DNA swab.