This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Salt Lake City man faces child-rape charges after investigators say they used DNA from a cigarette butt to determine that he was the father of a 14-year-old's baby.
The Utah attorney general's office began investigating William Piol Makuei, 52, after the then-13-year-old victim was found to be 29 weeks pregnant at University Hospital in June.
The girl told investigators that she had sex with a Sudanese man named William multiple times, according to charging documents filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court.
On one occasion, when the victim was walking home from a market, Makuei allegedly pulled up alongside the girl and "threatened that 'something bad would happen' to her family if she did not get in the car," the charges state.
The girl got in the car, was taken to a house and was raped on a couch, authorities say.
On another occasion, "while she was at William's house, William gave the child victim something to drink. She then fell asleep," the charges state. "When she woke up, her clothes were off her body."
The victim told investigators that Makuei was from Sudan. Investigators later found that the two lived in the same refugee community.
Investigators tracked Makuei, the only man matching the victim's description, until he dropped a cigarette butt on the ground outside his vehicle. A forensics lab matched DNA on his cigarette to DNA from the newborn baby, who was born in August.
Makuei was being held without bail at the Salt Lake County jail. An initial court appearance was set for Monday.
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson