According to court documents, she was jogging in the early afternoon along the drainage ditch along the Rio Grande, near Rio Bravo. She had taken note when a man had passed her on the trail, but she soon lost sight of him. Later in her run, she recognized the same man was standing by a tree, and he appeared to be talking on his cell phone.

She felt hesitant to run past him because he had stopped in a strange place, but she was already so close and did not want to appear confrontational by turning around. After she ran past him, she looked back and realized he was sprinting toward her. He tackled her to the ground and raped her.