Calgary police have laid charges in a downtown sex assault just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the violent attack.
The victim was walking along 8 Street S.W. at around 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, 1997, when someone pulled her into an alley between 10 and 11 Avenues S.W. Police said the suspect threatened the victim and then sexually assaulted her.
Following her assault, it’s alleged the suspect made the victim walk a few blocks through the alleyway before leaving her.
The case remained unsolved for years, until in November 2016 a man in custody on another matter contacted Innisfail RCMP to turn himself in for a sexual assault that occurred sometime in the late 1990s.
The Calgary Police Service Sex Crimes Unit followed up on the new information from the RCMP and reviewed multiple unsolved cases from that period to find a match. DNA evidence led investigators to lay charges in the 1997 sexual assault.
On Thursday, police announced Charles Henry Desjarlais, 54, of Bowden, Alta., had been charged with sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, uttering threats and kidnapping.
In a Thursday news conference Staff Sgt. Bruce Walker said it’s unknown why Desjarlais decided to come forward.
Walker confirmed Desjarlais is known to police.
He remains in police custody.
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