Docs: NH man left trail of discarded evidence after sexually assaulting woman

Editor’s note: This story contains details of a sexual assault, which some readers may find disturbing.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- On the morning of September 4, a Manchester woman awoke in her Auburn Street apartment to find a stranger touching her leg.

She thought it was her boyfriend, so she brushed the hand away. That’s when court documents detail the man’s more aggressive actions.

In an affidavit filed Tuesday in Manchester District Court, police officers detail what the victim, who we are not identifying, told them about the incident.

According to the narrative, the man ripped open the woman’s leggings and sexually assaulted her with his hand. When the woman pulled away from him, she told police the man swung a machete at her several times without making contact.

The woman said when she started screaming, the man ran out of the apartment, grabbing the woman’s purse and cell phone on the way.

The woman ran out of the apartment and into a friend’s apartment where her boyfriend was.

Police say she described the man as a tall, Black man in his 30s with a skinny build and Afro-type hair.

A Manchester police officer responding to the search for the suspect saw a man somewhat matching the description enter a store near the scene. Surveillance images of the suspect were emailed to Manchester police officers and matched the man found in the store.

Officers say they traced Diaz’s route and found the victim’s purse, cell phone and a machete all discarded in a trail from the apartment on Auburn Street.

Police say the victim looked at photos of potential suspects and was “85% sure” she identified Diaz as the man who assaulted her.

According to police, Diaz came to the station for an interview voluntarily and admitted to going into the apartment building on Auburn Street but only entered an abandoned apartment before leaving.

Diaz has been charged with Sexual assault, burglary and criminal threatening.

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