Merced man arrested after DNA links him to 2017 rape and carjacking, police say

The Merced Police Department said Thursday that a DNA test has connected a man is a 2017 rape and vehicle theft case.

Michael Allen Hansen-Grajeda, 30, is already in custody on vehicle theft and weapons-related charges. In June last year, he was as a possible DNA match in the 2017 case after he was sentenced to serve prison time for a conviction in a separate case, according to a police press release.

Per state law, Hansen-Grajeda’s DNA was collected at the start of his sentence.

In the 2017 sexual attack and vehicle theft, a woman in Merced pulled over to the side of the road in the 1000 block of W. 16th Street because she had car trouble.

A man walked up to her and asked her if she needed help while she was standing next to her car. She refused his help, and he forced her back into her car, punched her in the face and sexually assaulted her, the release said.

The woman was then forced out of her vehicle before her assailant got back into her car and drove away. Police took a description of the attacker from the woman, but weren’t able to identify a suspect. The victim consented to a sexual assault exam and police acquired DNA of the attacker.

The DNA was then uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System database, or CODIS.

Merced police interviewed Hansen-Grajeda in October 2021 about his involvement in the 2017 rape and vehicle theft case. He denied being involved in that incident, but officials with the California Department of Justice confirmed this month that his DNA was a confirmed match with the DNA of the woman’s attacker in the 2017 case.

This month, he found himself in the Merced County Jail on suspicion of possessing stolen property and violating probation. Detectives met with him there and arrested him on suspicion of rape, sodomy, false imprisonment, carjacking and attempted oral copulation by means of force or fear.

Anyone with information about the case should contact Merced Detective Alicia Gorman at 209-388-7715 or gormana@cityofmerced.org.