On November 13, 1982, a male suspect reportedly sexually assaulted and robbed a female complainant prior to leaving the scene. The suspect was unknown to the complainant, and was not identified at the time.
In October 2018, the file was reassigned to a Historical Crimes Unit investigator for review. Following a thorough reinvestigation, exhibits from the file were submitted for DNA testing, which identified a DNA profile that matched a convicted offender on the National DNA Data Bank.
On Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, Gordon Walter Lucier, 57, was arrested and is charged with rape and robbery as defined in the 1982 Canadian Criminal Code.
In 2016, the EPS Sexual Assault Section initiated a review of historical sexual assault files to identify those that would be suitable for further investigation. Historical Crimes Unit detectives continue to work through these files to identify where modern technology or investigative approaches may be able to shed light on a previously unsolved case.
“Thanks to our historical case reviews and ever-evolving DNA technology, we have been steadily identifying offenders in historical sexual assaults wherever possible,” says S/Sgt James Vanderland, with the EPS Historical Crimes Section. “Given the amount of time that has passed since the crimes were committed, it’s often a labour-intensive process that has a fairly small number of successful outcomes, but it’s very rewarding when we can bring offenders to justice and hopefully offer some resolution to victims.”