(Feb. 9, 2024) – Detectives with the Aurora Police Department and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office are seeking information about a serial rapist with active investigations in Arapahoe and Adams counties.
Jerricho Joseph Esquivel, 22, of Thornton, is in the Arapahoe County Jail on charges of sexual assault, second-degree kidnapping, unlawful sexual contact and third-degree assault. The charges stem from an attack on Nov. 21, 2022, in the 15400 block of East 13th Avenue in Aurora.
Esquivel also is a suspect in an Adams County Sheriff’s Office sexual assault investigation from a month earlier on Oct. 22, 2022, near the intersection of Acoma Street and Acoma Way, just outside Thornton city limits. Formal charges by the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office are pending.
In both incidents, Esquivel used a black firearm to sexually assault his female victims at gunpoint. Neither victim knew, nor had prior contact with Esquivel before the attacks.
Given similarities of the two cases, investigators are concerned there could be more victims who either never reported they were assaulted or were attacked in another metro Denver city and reported the crime to their local police department. Aurora and Adams County detectives want to speak with anyone who might have been a victim of a similar crime or anyone who has information about similar attacks taking place along the Front Range.
Esquivel is described as a white man, standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 145 pounds, with short brown hair and hazel eyes. He was 21 years old and clean shaven at the time of the crimes in Aurora and Adams County.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867). Reference Aurora Police Department case number AP22-321480 and/or Adams County Sheriff’s Office case number 22-17108
Joe Moylan
Public Information Officer
Aurora Police Department
720.432.5095
AP22-321480
Sgt. Adam Sherman
Professional Standards Division
Adams County Sheriff's Office
303.655.3223
ACSO22-17108