Las Vegas police issue warrant to collect Cristiano Ronaldo’s DNA

For the past three months, we hadn’t heard much of anything regarding the re-opening of Kathryn Mayorga’s case against Cristiano Ronaldo, one where she has filed a lawsuit against the Juventus forward alleging that a rape occurred in Las Vegas in 2009. On Thursday, the latest step in the investigation has come to light.

According to both TMZ and the Wall Street Journal, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department have issued a warrant to acquire Ronaldo’s DNA to see that it matches the samples found on a dress Mayorga was wearing the night of the alleged rape. Since Ronaldo is in the middle of the season, the warrant has reportedly been sent to Italy for the country’s court system to handle so that he can adhere to the request.

The major development here is that of the dress, which wasn’t originally included in the details of the case back in September and October. If the 33-year-old Ronaldo does cooperate with Italian authorities — which it appears that he will, according to TMZ’s sources — then it will be the first part of physical evidence introduced to the investigation.

Ronaldo’s agent, Peter S. Christiansen, said in a statement:

“Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation.”

Here is a refresher on the lawsuit, via ESPN:

According to the civil lawsuit, which was filed in state court in September, Mayorga, who was then 25, alleged that Ronaldo raped her in his hotel room in the city, then was coerced into signing a nondisclosure agreement in 2010 in an out-of-court settlement in exchange for $375,000.

The suit asks for general damages, special damages, punitive damages and special relief, each in excess of $50,000, along with interest, attorneys fees and court costs.

Ronaldo has continuously denied the rape allegations, calling it “fake news” in an Instagram live stream in the days following Mayorga filing the lawsuit and then in a handful of interviews with the press over the course of the last 2 ¹⁄₂ months.

Juventus has continuously stood behind their start signing from the summer of 2018, most notably issuing a much-criticized series of tweets that talked up Ronaldo’s character as a “great champion.”