A former College Park private school teacher has been sentenced to more than 128 years behind bars for the repeated rape of an 11-year-old student more than a decade ago.
Fernando Asturizaga, 45, was found guilty in February of four counts of sex offense and child abuse offenses.
During the court proceedings, prosecutors made a shocking revelation: Asturizaga was also a person of interest in a high-profile cold case disappearance of the victim’s mother.
The Washington Examiner has decided not to name the missing mother in order to protect the identity of the rape victim.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John J. McCarthy was satisfied with the lengthy sentence.
“This was a terrible and tragic case,” McCarthy said. “Mr. Asturizaga will be behind bars for a long, long time.”
Police arrested Asturizaga in 2010, after the daughter came forward and told police how she had been sexually abused by her former Spanish teacher at the Friends Community School in College Park.
The abuse began in 1999, when she was a 11 years old, and Asturizaga began to babysit the girl at her home in Silver Spring and at a second residence in Bethesda, authorities said.
In 2003, Asturizaga was charged with sex offense counts in Prince George’s County in a separate case, but a jury found him not guilty, according to online court records.
Asturizaga was living in Montpelier, Vt., when police arrested him in 2010 for the rape of his former Friends Community School student.
In February, prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to introduce evidence that the girl’s mother was trying to contact Montgomery County police about the abuse before the mother vanished in May 2000.
Police continue to investigate the disappearance of the mother, whose body has not been found. Her car was found shortly after she vanished near the C&O Canal trail, where she normally enjoyed taking walks.
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