In 2020, the NBC Dateline episode featured the case of the gruesome 2003 rape and murder of Katie Sepich by Gabriel Adrian Avila, for which he is serving a 69 years jail sentence.
In 2003, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, residents were shocked by the news of a heinous crime inflicted upon a 22-year-old New Mexico State University graduate student Katie Sepich.
The culprit behind the heinous crime was a Mexican national, Gabriel Adrian Avila.
Katie, the business major student, was last seen at a party at her friend’s house. Sadly, she didn’t reach her home that morning as she was abducted on the way to her home, which was just two blocks away on Las Cruces’s east side.
The 22-year-old lifeless body was discovered the following day in August 2003, lying at the city’s former dump, according to abqjournal.
Dateline: Where Is Gabriel Adrian Avila Now?
The case of Katie Sepich was featured on one of the NBC Dateline episodes back in 2020. Though Katie’s murder occurred in 2003, it was only after three years the culprit, Gabriel Adrian Avila, was comprehended.
Gabriel, the Mexican national, confessed to the 2003 murder of the 22-year graduate student. while he was serving the prison sentence for another crime. The culprit was an inmate at the New Mexico Corrections System in November of 2004.
Loved ones remember Katie Sepich #Dateline pic.twitter.com/A1jJjjuaIH
— Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) February 22, 2020
He was serving a nine-year prison sentence for aggravated burglary and intent to commit aggravated assault at the time. While in the prison, upon testing his DNA, it matched with the DNA available on Sepich’s body at the time of her death. He was not identified until mid-December of 2006.
The student killer was handed 69 years in prison for the 2003 rape and murder of the 22-year-old.
Katie Sepich Murder Case Update
In 2003, Katie Sepich was murdered and her body was discovered on August 31, near the old city dump east of Las Cruces. Katie was brutally raped and murdered on the night of August 30.
Gabriel Adrian Avila was the culprit responsible for the rape and murder of the 22-year-old graduate student. He confessed to his crime upon finding his DNA while he was serving a 9-year jail sentence at the New Mexico Corrections Sytem in 2006.
In New Mexico Katie’s Law requires DNA samples to be collected from people arrested in certain felonies including murder, sexual assault and burglary. The legislation was approved in 2006. The law is named after Katie Sepich, an NMSU student who was raped and murdered in 2003.
— Raymond (@IamTheIroko) September 28, 2020
As per his statement given to an investigator, Gabriel followed Sepich home and approached her as she tried to get into her rented house. where he raped her outside her house before strangling her to death.
It took three years for the murderer to be arrested. In 2010, Katie Law, a federal law was passed that required the state to collect the DNA of felons upon their arrest.
Gabriel Adrian Avila Is Serving 69 Years Jail Sentence
Gabriel Adrian Avila was handed 69 years of a jail sentence in 2006. Gabriel was an inmate at the New Mexico Corrections System when he confessed to the 2003 rape and murder of Katie Sepich.
DATELINE-WOMAN WHO COULDNT SCREAM CUZ HUSKY VOICE NM STATE MBA GRAD KATIE SEPICH 22 SAW BF KISS GIRL LEFT PARTY DRUNK WALKING HOME-MEXI GABRIEL AVILA 24 BUYS COKE-SAW HER NO HOUSEKEY OPENWINDOW-RAPE/KILL-DNA UNDER FNAILS-CAPT 2 YRS L8ER4BREAK IN-FELON SWAB https://t.co/pq7IoDbHUo
— Nazareno Navegante (@Bodhi_Tha_God) May 7, 2020
He was serving 9 years of a jail sentence for 2004 aggravated burglary and intent to commit aggravated assault in 2003, nine weeks after the Sepich murder.