DNA evidence links suspect to 3 sex assaults in Toronto & Collingwood

Toronto police have released composite sketches of a suspect they say has been linked to three sexual assaults in Toronto and Collingwood through DNA evidence.

Police say they are concerned the suspect is “escalating in violence” with each subsequent attack.

“This man is predatorial and he’s looking for young women walking on their own,” said Supt. Pauline Gray, the unit commander of Toronto’s sex crimes and homicides division.

Police say during the Honda Indy weekend on July 15, 2019 a 28-year-old woman ordered a ride-sharing service to pick her up on Lake Shore Boulevard between Newfoundland Road and Strachan Avenue at approximately 10:25 p.m.

After confirming with the driver that this was the vehicle she ordered, she was taken to a parking lot in the area of Jane Street and Eglinton Avenue where she was sexually assaulted and threatened with death.

The suspect is described as between 25-35 years of age, with a brown complexion, approximately five-foot-seven and five-foot-nine with a small build and a short beard.

Police say the suspect suffered an injury to his eye during the assault and they are asking anyone who was working in a hospital, clinic, doctor or optometrist’s office or pharmacy to come forward if they have encountered anyone matching that description in the days following the alleged assault.

The same suspect has now been linked to two other alleged sexual assaults, one in Collingwood and another in Toronto, four years ago.

In July of 2015, a 23-year-old woman reported being approached by a man from behind and dragged into a laneway in the area of Dufferin Street and Rogers Road where she says she was sexually assaulted.

Less than two years later, Ontario Provincial Police say a 17-year-old girl was pulled into a vehicle in the area of Birch Street and Second Street in Collingwood and sexually assaulted by man in the early morning hours of January 1, 2017. Police said the alleged attack, which also featured the threat of a weapon, displayed “markedly more violence.”

In both cases, the suspect was described as a man in his mid-to-late 20s, brown complexion, standing between five-foot-five and five-foot-seven and sporting a thin beard.

In each case, the suspect was reportedly driving a grey, silver or black high-end vehicle with four doors.

Police say they have DNA from all three incidents but since he is not in the system, there is no way at this time to put a name to the evidence collected.

“We are also concerned that given the span of time between these three incidents that there are other sexual assaults committed by this man that have gone unreported.” said Gray.

Anyone with additional information in any of the three cases is asked to contact police.