Boynton Beach Police arrest rape suspect as he waited for international flight
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Boynton Beach Police and U.S. Marshals arrested a man wanted on rape charges shortly before he was due to board a flight to Haiti.
Photos released by Boynton Beach Police show Pascal Estime, 55, in handcuffs inside the terminal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Saturday.
That is where police say Estime was preparing to board a JetBlue flight to his native Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. That is where police say he would have escaped charges of rape he is now facing.
Detectives say Estime repeatedly raped a now 33-year-old mentally handicapped woman in 2004. The victim, police say, was impregnated and the pregnancy was terminated and used for DNA evidence.
The case went cold for more than a decade.
Twelve years later, in July 2016, Boynton Beach Detective Brent Joseph tracked Estime down to Orlando where he was able to serve a warrant to obtain Estime’s DNA. Police say a paternity test showed a 99.9997% match of Estime being the father of his victim’s fetus.
Boynton Beach Police faced a time-crunch tracking Estime down again as a tipster told police Estime booked a flight out of Fort Lauderdale to Haiti.
With the help of Broward Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals South Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, Estime was arrested Saturda.
Police say Estime confessed to the crimes. He is due to appear in a Palm Beach County court Sunday morning for First Appearance.
