DNA Links 2 Sexual Assaults In Aliso Viejo Park To Same Suspect

ALISO VIEJO (CBSLA) – Based on DNA evidence, Orange County investigators have confirmed that two separate sexual assaults which occurred in the same Aliso Viejo park in January, and then in April, were likely committed by the same suspect. However, the identity of that person remains unknown.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department reported Thursday that DNA evidence has linked the two attacks, the first of which occurred on Jan. 20 in Woodfield Park, and the second which happened on April 2 in the same area.

In the Jan. 20 assault, a 22-year-old woman was skateboarding at around 6 p.m. when the suspect dragged her into some bushes.

The woman screamed and tried to fight him off. He eventually ran away.

In the April 2 attack, a woman in her mid-30s was jogging just before 5 p.m. along Aliso Creek Trail – just east of the Woodland Park baseball fields – when the suspect ran up behind her and also pulled her into some bushes.

She fought him off and he ran away in an unknown direction, the sheriff's department reports.

Surveillance cameras captured video of the suspect jogging on the trail just prior to the attack. There were other people also jogging along the trail at the time.

The Orange County Crime Lab collected suspect DNA from both victims and determined that they matched the same person.

However, he does not match DNA in any law enforcement database, the sheriff's department said.

A massive sheriff's department task force with more than 100 personnel was established to try and identify the suspect, but has not yet had any success.

The suspect is described as a man in his mid-30s with dark eyes and little-to-no-hair. He has a muscular build. In the January attack, he was wearing a black shirt, black shorts and tennis shoes.

Anyone with information on the case should call the OCSD Special Victims Detail at 714-647-7419.