Man Convicted in 1995 Sexual Assault Cold Case Using Genetic Genealogy

a wooden judge's gavel resting next to sterile glass laboratory vials and a forensic cotton swab on a polished oak desk inside a Canadian courtroom with wood pa

AI-generated illustration; not a photograph of the reported event.

Conviction Handed Down Decades After Attack

Nearly 30 years after a teenager was violently assaulted while walking near her local school, Leslie Richard King, now 56, was convicted of sexual assault in a Toronto courtroom. The decision follows years of trauma for the victim and a breakthrough in police investigative techniques.

Victim Confronts Attacker in Court

The now 48-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, faced King during court proceedings last Thursday. She delivered a deeply emotional victim impact statement recalling how the events of Good Friday in 1995 altered her life. ‘I lost my innocence on that day on many levels,’ she told the court, recounting her ongoing panic attacks, mistrust of strangers, and the impact on her role as a wife and mother. Her two children watched from the gallery as she described the enduring trauma she suffered since age 16.

Details of the 1995 Sexual Assault

Assistant crown attorney Brady Donahue described the sequence of events before Justice Brees Davies. On April 14, 1995, the teenager was walking home through the field of Amesbury Middle School when a man began following her. He eventually overtook her, threatened her with what appeared to be a handgun inside a plastic bag, and assaulted her. After forcing the teen to perform oral sex, the attacker told her to leave. She immediately fled home and reported the incident to her mother and the police.

Breakthrough Using Investigative Genetic Genealogy

For 29 years, the case remained unsolved. It was eventually revisited by the Toronto Police Cold Case section of the Sex Crimes Unit, led by Detective Ann-Marie Tuppling. Investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), a process comparing crime scene DNA to public genealogy databases, was employed. Police re-examined evidence collected at the time, including a sweater worn by the victim and a sexual assault kit performed at Women’s College Hospital.

In November 2023, Leslie King was identified as a person of interest after IGG results. Police discreetly collected DNA from a cup King discarded in December, sending it to the Centre for Forensic Sciences for analysis. King could not be excluded as the DNA source. In February 2024, King was arrested and later released on strict bail. A warrant was obtained for his DNA in September 2024, with further analysis again supporting the match to DNA from the 1995 crime scene.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

King had faced charges of sexual assault with a weapon, but after evidence review, Superior Court Justice Brees Davies found him guilty of sexual assault—the lesser included offense—after the court determined there was insufficient proof that a gun was actually used. The victim’s description of her attacker aligned with King’s physical appearance and known history in Toronto at the time.

King’s legal team sought to have the IGG evidence excluded, but that motion was dismissed. King did not present any counter-evidence during the trial. He remains out on bail, awaiting sentencing at a date yet to be determined.

Enduring Impact for the Survivor

The victim shared that the trauma led her to avoid taking her children out alone and that the case’s resurgence had reopened old wounds. Her statement underscored the lasting effects of childhood sexual assault and the importance of achieving some measure of justice after decades.