A transgender woman was sexually assaulted and strangled on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on August 29. Marcano Gutierrez, 31, and Arturo R. Santos Albujas, 27, were identified as suspects.
The woman, who was not named for her protection, said the two men approached her on State Street. The encounter took place on the well-frequented university street around 3-4 a.m. They then asked her to accompany them to their boat on the university pier. The boat was located on Lake Mendota, as neither the woman nor the men were connected to the university.
The woman said she was initially hesitant but agreed to go to Goodspeed Family Pier, a busy dock by Alumni Park. Immediately upon arriving, she noticed there was not a boat and attempted to leave. The men prevented her from leaving, shoved her to the ground, and, according to her account, Albujas choked her, ripped out her hair extensions, and threw them into the lake. According to the woman’s report, both men proceeded to rip off her clothes and hit her while she was on the ground. Gutierrez then choked her to the point that the woman felt she would die. He then grabbed her body and forced her to perform sexual acts on Albujas.
“We could literally kill you, throw you in the lake, and just leave,” they told her. The woman was left with scratches on her arms and legs.
An eyewitness said they saw the pair acting inappropriately toward women on State Street shortly before the alleged incident.
They were “being very handsy towards and with other females on State Street,”they claim. The eyewitness called the police after they saw the men grabbing the woman’s clothes, pulling her hair, and dragging her around. Another eyewitness called the UW-Madison Police Department at 4:10 a.m. They reported hearing the men hitting the woman and saw Albujas hit the woman several times.
Surveillance footage captured the men from several angles at 4:13 a.m. and earlier. The duo was arrested shortly after the calls to police.
Albuja and Gutierrez are being held at Dane County Jail, with Albuja’s bail set at $100,000 and Gutierrez’s set at $75,000. The men face charges of second-degree sexual assault/use of force with strangulation and suffocation as party to a crime, false imprisonment as party to a crime, and battery.
