A man accused of holding a woman captive in a South Bay home with a dead body in it had demanded the woman help him dismember the corpse, a prosecutor alleged Friday.
Rafael Reyes Banda, 44, is charged with forcible rape and kidnapping for allegedly threatening the victim, 43, with a gun and keeping her confined to his Citrus Avenue home for about a day.
Banda is not charged in connection with the death of another woman whose body was found inside the home. Neither the dead woman’s cause of death, nor her identity or relationship, if any, to Banda, has been disclosed.
Deputy District Attorney Joshua Brisbane said Friday that Banda and the alleged rape victim had known each other for a week prior to the alleged abduction.
The prosecutor said that after Banda’s behavior became “erratic,” the woman sought to distance herself from him and retrieve some of her property from the home, located in Palm City.
Once there, Brisbane said Banda accused the woman of stealing money from him, brandished a gun, struck her, and at some point, showed her a dead woman’s body and “ordered her to assist in dismembering this deceased female.”
Brisbane said the woman was “unable to do so.”
Later, Banda allegedly made a series of demands, including that the woman sit on his lap, make him breakfast and shower with him. He also demanded sex, which Brisbane said the woman acquiesced to because she feared for her life.
When Banda passed out after using drugs, Brisbane said the woman escaped.
According to San Diego police Lt. Jud Campbell, the woman flagged down a passing motorist at around noon Wednesday and reported her abduction. Banda was arrested at the Citrus Avenue home, where officers discovered the dead woman’s body.
Banda was previously in custody on $130,000 bail, but Superior Court Judge Carlos Varela ordered him held without bail following a court appearance Friday.
Banda did not enter a plea. A public defender said the defendant has retained a private attorney and will wait until his attorney can appear on his behalf. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at the South Bay Courthouse in Chula Vista.
– City News Service