‘Mill Woods rapist’ charged for 2011 homicide of Jeanette Marie Cardinal after new testing

A man known as the “Mill Woods rapist” is facing new charges connected to the homicide of a woman in 2011.

Dana Fash, 38, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jeanette Marie Cardinal.

Cardinal’s body was found in an apartment suite on 119 Avenue and 81 Street in February 2011. Her death was determined to be a homicide.

Detective Ryan Tebb with the Historical Homicide Unit of Edmonton Police Service said Fash was a person of interest in the first few days following Cardinal’s death.

“At the time, we didn’t have the evidence that was required to move forward with the charge,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "At the time, we didn't have the evidence that was required to move forward with the charge," he said.

Tebb, who started reviewing the file in February, said additional testing gave officers what they needed to move forward with the second-degree murder charge. He adds that a previously untested item was recently tested at a specialized lab.

“It was evidence that had initially been submitted. I guess technological changes and advancements in some of the thresholds for some of the forensic evidence that we’re dealing with, with the new technology we have better results is ultimately the case,” he said.

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“It was a matter of having the time and there being changes and even changes with the lab and their capacity to deal with some of the submissions, number of submissions. I think that’s changed in the last five years and their willingness to accept exhibits and more exhibits has probably changed in that time period as well.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was a matter of having the time and there being changes and even changes with the lab and their capacity to deal with some of the submissions, number of submissions. I think that's changed in the last five years and their willingness to accept exhibits and more exhibits has probably changed in that time period as well."

Edmonton police issued a warning to Edmontonians earlier this month after Fash was released from prison because they considered him to be “violent and sexually violent” and considered the 38-year-old “to pose a risk of significant harm to the community.”

READ MORE: Release of ‘Mill Woods rapist’ spurs warning from Edmonton police

Fash, who became known across Edmonton as the “Mill Woods rapist,” was handed a 12-year sentence in 1997 for sexually assaulting two women. One was a 44-year-old janitor he attacked with scissors in a staff washroom at Malcolm Tweddle Elementary School in Mill Woods. Another was a grandmother he attacked at knifepoint.

Both attacks took place in 1994 when he was just 16 years old.

In 2009, he was put behind bars again for breaching conditions of his conditional release that required him to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

Police said the cause of Cardinal’s death won’t be released.

Fash will appear in court Thursday, Jan. 5. He is currently in custody.

Tebb said Fash is not considered a person of interest in any other investigations in the Historical Homicide Unit.