The sexual assault occurred on the 2000 block of Blake Street.
On March 26th, 2023, between 9:13 pm and 9:20 pm, a victim (female in her 20’s) was grabbed from behind, pulled into a parking lot, and sexually assaulted on the 2000 block of Blake Street. The suspect assaulted the victim for several minutes before fleeing the scene. BPD responded to the location but was unable to locate the suspect.
Based on the initial statement provided to police on the scene, BPD did not have enough information to give a suspect description to the public. Our Sex Crimes Detectives worked tirelessly on obtaining search warrants, did follow-up in the area, and walked the apartment complexes going door to door looking for any evidence and attempting to locate and identify the suspect.
Due to the nature of this investigation, BPD did high visibility extra patrols in the area daily. BPD Detectives did additional surveillance to keep everyone safe and allowed this investigation to continue without the risk of others being victimized.
On April 5th, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for the suspect, identified as Jonathan Castellanos Miller (20-year-old male), after he was identified using forensic evidence that had been collected on the scene. Our Detectives arrested Castellanos Miller a few hours later outside our city limits.
A search warrant was executed at an associated address, which yielded additional evidence of the crime, handcuffs, and two replica firearms.
On April 6th, 2023, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Castellanos Miller with PC 209(b)(1)- felony kidnapping to commit sex crime or robbery, PC 261(A)(2)- felony sexual assault by means of force or fear and, PC 220(A)(1)- felony assault with attempt to commit a sex crime.
Although Castellanos Miller has been placed under arrest, the Berkeley Police Department would like to encourage any additional potential victims to contact Berkeley Police Department Sex Crimes Unit at (510) 981-5735. Detectives have been investigating a similar crime that occurred on March 1st, 2023, on the 2400 block of Warring Street, but the victim in the case has not come forward to report the incident.
Berkeley PD would like to thank the Serological Research Institute, San Mateo County Crime Lab, and California Department of Justice Jan Bashinski Laboratory for their timely assistance with forensic evidence in this case.
2023-00014623