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It’s been more than 30 years since a twisted predator hunted children west of Toronto, but a 64-year-old British Columbia man now stands accused of being “the Woodland Rapist.”
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Peel Regional police say a multi-jurisdictional investigation – involving the combined efforts of officers from Peel, Halton and Waterloo – has led to an arrest in a series of brutal sexual assaults on kids that occurred decades ago.
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“The investigation, known as Project Woodland, related to historical sexual assaults on children occurring from 1992 to 1995 in the involved services respective regions,” police said in a statement released Wednesday.
The initial attacks on two young boys and a teenage girl sparked a massive manhunt that ultimately prompted cops to strike the Project Woodland task force.
The first boy was just eight years old when he was lured into the woods in Idlewood Park in Kitchener and sexually assaulted by a knife-wielding man on Aug. 21, 1992.
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Just over two years later – on Sept. 29, 1994 – a 10-year-old boy was similarly sexually assaulted by a man in North Place Park in Brampton.
And the following year – on Aug. 31, 1995 – a man forced a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint into a wooded area of Oakville’s Wildwood Park and raped her for five hours.
DNA tests on semen-stained underwear found at one of the crime scenes allegedly determined the same man was behind all three attacks, during which the rapist wore underwear on his head, tied his victims to trees and forced them to drink urine.
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Cops canvassed door-to-door, looking into 875 suspects and investigated 1,200 tips. They even released a composite sketch of the Woodland Rapist, but still came up empty, so the task force was disbanded in the summer of 1996.
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Fast-forward nearly 28 years to March 3, 2024 – and a suspect has finally been arrested.
Richard Neil faces 20 criminal charges that include kidnapping, uttering death threats, sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, administering a noxious thing with intent, and forcible confinement.
He was held for a bail hearing.
Police urged anyone with information to call 905-453-2121, ext. 3460.
cdoucette@postmedia.com
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