WINNIPEG – Police made an unusual appeal Monday for help solving a particularly brutal crime.
Officers released the identity of a teenage girl who was violently sexually assaulted and left for dead in the frigid water of the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, hoping to stir anyone with information to come forward.
Rinelle Harper, 16, was out with friends Friday evening in the South Broadway area, but later became separated from the group, police said. She was attacked along the Riverwalk near the Donald Street bridge and later discovered by a passerby.
The attack was “sexual in nature,” police said.
It’s not clear how Harper got out of the water and onto the river walk, where she was found suffering from what sources told Global News were severe head injuries and hypothermia. She was rushed to hospital in critical condition but police said Monday she is expected to recover.
READ MORE: Teenage girl found assaulted near Winnipeg’s Midtown Bridge
It is unusual for police release the identity of the victim of a sexual assault or an underage victim of any kind of crime. But police said they received her parents’ permission, and they took the step in hopes of motivating the public to assist in solving the crime.
“Rinelle is a person, she’s a person that lives in this community, she’s a person that has a family,” Supt. Danny Smythe told reporters Monday. “We’re hopeful this will resonate and the community will come forward and help us.”
Harper is from God’s Lake Narrows and lives in Winnipeg while attending high school.
The brutal attack on a young aboriginal woman drew comparisons to the case of Tina Fontaine, the 15-year-old whose body was found in the Red River last summer. She was wrapped in plastic and police are investigating her death as a homicde. There have been no arrests in Fontaine’s case.
READ MORE: Missing teen murdered, dumped in river: police
Police acknowledged the similarities between the Fontaine and Harper cases.
“There are some similarities there. However, we are treating these as distinct investigations — but I’m not ruling that out,” Smythe said.
“Police are appealing to the public for assistance from anyone who may have seen Rinelle Friday evening in the hours and minutes leading up to her attack; or from anyone with knowledge of the attack on Rinelle,” police said in a news release.
Anyone with tips can call investigators at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).
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