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DNA HELPS SOLVE COLD CASE
Monday, March 23rd, 2009 -- 12:29 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
It’s been 19 years since an 11-year-old Wisconsin Rapids girl was abducted at knifepoint and sexually assaulted. The alleged crime has gone unsolved, but now, a 39-year-old Spencer man is under arrest in connection with the incident.
The Wood County Sheriff's Department arrested Michael Buchanan late Friday. They expect he’ll be charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child with the use of a dangerous weapon.
According to the Marshfield NewsHerald, the 11-year-old girl told authorities she was abducted in June of 1990.
She was taken to an unknown location, sexually assaulted, then left in rural Cranmoor.
An extensive investigation failed to turn up leads, but new DNA evidence has linked Buchanan to the crime. Wood County officials say he’s now also suspected in other unsolved sexual assaults.
According to past reports, investigators served a search warrant on Buchanan, then of Pittsville, to collect hair samples to compare with evidence in the 1990 homicide of Stephanie VanDenBerg. VanDenBerg's body was found in Clark County's Sherwood Lake on May 24, 1991.
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