More charges for jailed kidnapping, rape suspect

A 19-year-old accused in the February rape and kidnapping of a girl, a disappearance that resulted in the issuance of an Tennessee AMBER Alert, remains in the DeSoto County Adult Detention Center with additional charges being made. 

Diego Velasquez-Espino has charges listed on his DeSoto County Jail information of kidnapping, being a fugitive from justice, statutory rape, and child exploitation. He remains in jail on $250,000 bond with a March 26 court date scheduled. 

The fugitive charge comes from his escape from Shelby County, Tenn., which is waiting to extradite him. There, Velasquez-Espino has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and burglary, aggravated assault, and possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.

The February disappearance of a 14-year-old girl in Memphis led to a statewide AMBER Alert being issued. The girl was found the next morning along Stateline Road in Southaven, followed by the identification of Velasquez-Espino as a suspect and his arrest later the same day.