Albuquerque man sentenced to 270 years in several cold case rapes

A state district court judge handed down the maximum sentence — almost three centuries of prison time — to a man who raped several women in the 1990s before the cases went cold.

Second Judicial District Judge Clara Moran sentenced Edward Gilbert Duran, 66, to 270 years in a New Mexico prison during a hearing Thursday. Duran had faced a minimum sentence of 18 years.

Duran has been behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center since late 2021, when charges were first filed against him.

Duran’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment on the sentencing.

In May, Duran pleaded no contest to 15 counts of rape in the middle of the trial, sending the proceedings straight to sentencing. Duran was linked to the rapes of eight women, between 1990 and 1997, after his DNA was matched to the suspect’s DNA, which sat untested for decades.

The 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a release Thursday that two women were “unable to move forward with their cases because of health issues.” The DA’s Office said a son of one of the women, who since has died, told the court during Duran’s sentencing how much his mother suffered because of the attack.

“The work this team does is incredible. With their tireless dedication, we hope this gives some peace to Duran’s victims. Nothing can take away the years of trauma they have suffered — but now they know the man responsible for their pain can never hurt anyone again,” District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement.

Authorities allege Duran’s modus operandi was to break into the women’s apartments and rape them at knifepoint. All but one rape happened while Duran was on probation, having received a suspended jail sentence for trying to rape a woman in 1989.

Duran’s trial focused on DNA evidence from cold case rapes that was tested in recent years as an effort to clear a backlog of thousands of rape kits.

Duran faced his first charges from the rape kits in 2021, stemming from a 1997 case.

In that incident, a woman told Albuquerque police she was sleeping when a man forced her head into a pillow and violently raped her, poking a knife into her back. Afterward, she said, her attacker made her take a shower, and “she had the feeling he had raped many women before.”

“He was not nervous once he had literally beaten me into submission,” the woman told officers. “... He was assured, commanding, and knew every step. He was very smooth and knew exactly what he would do next.”

The attacker took her belongings, and her stolen credit card was used at a gas station soon after, according to court records. It’s unclear if officers ever pursued that lead or any others in the case.

In 2019, the woman’s rape kit was tested and, although no suspect profile was found, came back as a match to seven other backlog rape kits. Detectives then submitted the DNA for genealogy testing and found it matched one of three Duran brothers.

Edward Duran was the only brother who fit the suspect’s description and had an attempted rape conviction in his past.

On Nov. 15, 2021, a detective tailed Duran and his family as they celebrated his birthday at a sushi restaurant in Northeast Albuquerque. After the family left, the detective went to their table and collected the plastic fork used by Duran.

A month later the detective got results back from the fork, matching Duran’s DNA to the 1997 case and seven other rape kits.

Officers re-interviewed the woman from the 1997 rape.

The woman told police the attack destabilized her life in every way. She said, although she had a degree in chemistry, she only held jobs as a clerk at a gas station and at a day care.

The woman told police she was afraid to live alone and had repeatedly moved to find somewhere she could feel safe, to no avail.