“She knew enough to pretend she was dead,” Isbell said.
“After the perpetrator thought she was dead, then he
raped her. This is a very sick individual.”

The individual is Francisco Barbosa, aka Francisco
Sanchez, a 35-year-old illegal immigrant who had been
working construction in Monroe County. Isbell said
Barbosa/Sanchez had been staying, off and on, at his
brother’s house, in the victim’s neighborhood.

“We obtained his DNA from a straw he had used and it
matched DNA taken from the victim,” Isbell said. “We went
back into the community and started asking questions
again. We learned that he was very concerned about
providing a DNA sample and said he was going back to
Mexico.”

And Mexico is where authorities believe Barbosa/Sanchez
is right now. He hasn’t been seen in the area for a few
days and his car was found in Houston, Texas.

“We have warrants on him for aggravated rape and
especially aggravated burglary,” Isbell said. “We have full
confidence the Mexican authorities will help us extradite
him back here.”

It’s not known yet if Barbosa/Sanchez has a previous
criminal record. “When somebody’s in this country
illegally,” Isbell said, “and have no fingerprints on record,
it’s hard to know what they’ve done.”

The Tellico Plains Police Department had kept the case
closely guarded, letting out only certain information in an
effort to keep evidence untainted. And while the
investigation did show the victim’s home had been
burglarized, Isbell has no doubt the suspect intended to
rape the victim.

“This is a case of homicide and what he thought was post
mortem sex,” Isbell said. “This is the kind of crime that
shouldn’t happen anywhere.”

The victim’s name had been kept confidential to keep her
safe until the suspect was found and Isbell was glad to tell
her they were close to finding him. (Editor’s note: The
Advocate & Democrat does not print the names of rape
victims without the victim’s permission.)

“She said ‘praise God’ when we told her,” Isbell said. “And
now the community can know we have a suspect and hope
to bring him to justice soon.”

Isbell described the case as “difficult,” and thanked all the
agencies who had helped, including all the Monroe County
law enforcement agencies, TBI, the Bradley County
Sheriff’s Office, the FBI Violent Crimes Apprehension
department, the Athens Police Department, the Houston
Police Department and the US Marshal’s Office.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com |
442-4575