Investigators with the Dallas Police Department released new information Monday in the investigation into the murder of 18-year-old Zoe Hastings.
According to a probable cause affidavit released Monday, a witness told police Zoe Hastings did not willingly slide over to her passenger seat to give a man a ride, but rather was abducted by force and gave up the driver’s seat against her will.
Hastings' white minivan was found abandoned in a creek bed the next morning with her body inside. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office determined the teen died of homicidal violence.
According to detectives, DNA evidence found at the crime scene was matched to a sample in a DNA database that belonged to 34-year-old Antonio Lamar Cochran.
Members of the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Apprehension Team located Cochran in northeast Dallas and placed him under arrest. Officials are not providing any details on how they located Cochran for fear of jeopardizing other investigations.
While further detail about the teen's death has not been disclosed and a motive for the slaying has not been confirmed, Dallas police characterized Cochran after his arrest as a dangerous "sexual predator."
Cochran has a long rap sheet with arrests and convictions dating back 15 years for crimes that include assault, theft and burglary. As recently as February 2014, he was arrested in Bowie County, Texas after being accused of raping a teenage girl in a car.
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The District Clerk’s Office confirms that the case went all the way to a jury trial this January, where Cochran was ultimately acquitted. According to the Texarkana Gazette newspaper, during the trial the teenager testified Cochran threatened to kill her unless she had sex with him in the car. Cochran’s attorney argued the sex was consensual. NBC 5 has requested the court documents from that trial from Bowie County prosecutors.
Police have not charged Cochran with any sex crime related to the Hastings investigation.
Cochran, who is currently being held at the Dallas County Jail on a capital murder charge, has retained lawyer Paul Johnson as counsel. Cochran declined to be interviewed by NBC 5 Monday. His bail is set at $2.5 million.
Since Cochran's arrest on Saturday, Hastings' family has not issued a statement.
Probable Cause Affidavit: Antonio Lamar Cochran
