Suspect arrested in nearly 20-year-old sex assaults cold case
Posted January 7, 2013 9:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto police announced an arrest in two sex assault cold cases that date back nearly 20 years.
Steven John McGuire, 43, was arrested by the RCMP in Alberta on Jan. 2, a year after police announced a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to a conviction in the case.
Det. Ali Ansari said Monday that information from the community allowed police to make an arrest.
“In particular, one Crime Stopper tip has now caused me to stand before you and announce that we have made an arrest in the case,” Ansari said at Toronto police headquarters.
The first alleged attack happened on Nov. 10, 1993, when a man grabbed a 19-year-old woman walking on Dundas Street East, near Parliament Street, and dragged her under a parked tractor-trailer where he attacked her at knifepoint and stole her backpack.
The second alleged attack happened on July 3, 1994, when police say a man broke into a woman’s second-floor apartment in the Queen and Bathurst streets area, sexually assaulted the woman and stole her purse. The man told the woman he had a knife, police said.
Forensic evidence indicated the same man was responsible for both attacks.
Both of the women were “relieved” by the news of the arrest and wished to thank the community, Ansari said.
Police released a composite sketch of the suspect after the 1993 attack and then released an updated aged composite in June 2011.
“I felt if we aged the composite we could refresh some people’s memories,” Ansari said at the time.
Police believe there could be more victims.
McGuire was charged with two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, two counts of robbery, one count of break and enter and commit and one count of threatening death.
He appeared in court on Sunday, where he was remanded into custody. He will next appear in court on Jan. 21.
