‘Magical’ advances in technology lead to arrest in 25-year-old sex assault

By

Toronto police have made an arrest in a 25-year-old sex assault investigation, the second cold case this week that police say was solved by advances in DNA and fingerprint technology.

The victim, who was 44 at the time of the assault, was “very happy” to hear the news, Det. Ali Ansari said at a news conference on Thursday.

Toronto police say that around 11:50 p.m. on July 27, 1990, a woman was sleeping in a ground floor apartment near Millwood Road and Overlea Boulevard. A man entered through her open window, choked her, and threatened to hurt her further if she did not comply. He sexually assaulted her and then fled.

“Physical evidence was located from the scene and from the woman,” Ansari said, but police would have to wait 10 years before the case progressed any further.

“In 2002, we were able to make a DNA profile and it was uploaded to a national database,” he said, but again, the case stalled.

“In 2013, this case was reviewed and a suspect was identified.”

Ansari said that fingerprint evidence recovered from the scene was confirmed with DNA from the UK. Police in Cambridge and Manchester were involved with the investigation, he said.

“Evidence gathering has not changed,” Ansari said.

“We still had the evidence from 1990, and that’s why we able to make a DNA profile. What has changed, a great deal, is the DNA technology. The Centre for Forensic Sciences can do magical things,” he said.

Police issued a Canada-wide warrant for Austin Wycliffe Thomas in July of 2014, who was by then living in the UK. The extradition process began and Thomas was returned to Canada on Tuesday.

Thomas, 65, has been charged with break and enter with intent to commit, sexual assault causing bodily harm, threatening bodily harm, and overcome resistance (attempted choking).

Thomas had been in Canada for 12 years prior to the sex assault and was deported two and a half months after it. Ansari would not say why Thomas was deported. He was in Canada legally, Ansari said.

Police released a photo of Thomas from 1987 and one from the present day, and are asking anyone with any information to come forward.

The investigation was part of Project Timeless, a review of cold cases in the sex crimes unit that has been underway for the past few years. A similar review of other crimes, under the umbrella Project Never Give Up, led to an arrest in a 1990 murder. Police said Tuesday that Rupert Richards, 61, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Surinder Singh Parmar.

 

 

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today