DNA leads to arrest in sexual assault case
Posted/updated on: February 28, 2026 at 5:25 pm
TYLER — A 33-year-old man was arrested Monday following a DNA swab that came back as a positive match led to the discovery that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in 2020. According to our news partner KETK, Martin Roman Torres was booked into the Smith County Jail Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in June 2020, according to an arrest affidavit.
The affidavit claims the girl and her sister ran away from a group home on June 22, 2020, around 7 p.m. The girls were at the park when Torres approached them and began talking to them. He invited the girls to stay with him that night and as they were walking to his home, he wanted to stop for marijuana, the affidavit reported.
Torres offered the victim a hit of his marijuana and the affidavit claims she took it and immediately felt as though she couldn’t move, was having a panic attack and had blurry vision.
The victim described the feeling as an “out-of-body experience” and once the feeling wore off, the girls and Torres walked to an abandoned building that had a mattress inside. Once the victim’s sister fell asleep, Torres offered her another hit of marijuana.
The affidavit reports the victim experiencing a similar reaction as the first hit and after that Torres put his hand over her mouth and began touching her. Eventually, he pulled her clothes off and held her neck which caused bruising. He then went on to sexually assault her and did not use protection.
The victim said Torres left the building. Her and her sister left the next day and were later found at a different location.
During the investigation, a detective obtained a warrant for Torres’ DNA in Oct. 2025 where he learned Torres was in the Hutchins State Jail on other charges. The detective interviewed Torres and he said he was staying at a local shelter at the time of the assault and he claims he had “consensual sex” with a redheaded girl during the same time on a mattress at an abandoned building in Tyler. The victim had dyed her hair red the day the assault took place.
On Feb. 11, the DPS crime lab sent a letter claiming the DNA sample collected at the time of the assault did contain Torres’ DNA, the affidavit states.
The DNA results led to Torres being charged with sexual assault of a child and he is currently being held inside the Smith County Jail.
