Kelvington man charged in sexual assault from 1981 in Edmonton

A 65-year-old man from Kelvington has been arrested in connection with a sexual assault that occurred in Edmonton more than 40 years ago.

Police in the Alberta city say the assault happened July 9, 1981 and involved a 15-year-old girl. The girl was walking home across a school field in northeast Edmonton when she was grabbed, dragged and sexually assaulted.

After the case went unsolved for decades, it was assigned to the Historical Crimes Unit in 2018.

Police say they used investigative genetic genealogy, which compares a crime scene DNA sample with profiles in public commercial databases.

After combining information about relatives of the suspect with other existing evidence, police were able to identify the suspect, who’s now 65.

Police say the man was arrested on Oct. 27 and is being charged with rape and acts of gross indecency as defined in the 1981 Criminal Code.

— With files from The Canadian Press