Heron Park sex assault linked to 2 unsolved cases

A computer program police use to analyze violent crimes has linked a Monday sexual assault in Heron Park to two other unsolved sexual assault cases in the city dating back to the summer of 2012.

Police have confirmed the suspect in Monday's case in which a 25-year-old woman said she was jumped from behind and dragged into nearby bushes while walking home from a Transitway station may have been preying on women for more than a year.

The first related case was a sexual assault in the Greenbank area in August 2012. An 18-year-old woman said she was violently attacked after a man forced his way into her apartment.

The second case happened on Lancaster Road in June this year when a young woman leaving the gym around 10 p.m. said she was jumped from behind and attacked.

Last month, police released a composite drawing of the suspect in those two cases.

The description of the Heron Park suspect is similar, police said.

Ottawa police sources also say there are two unsolved sexual assault caseslinked to Heron Park, Greenbank and Lancaster.

Additional detectives have been put on the case and investigators have asked the Ontario Provincial Police behavioural analysis unit to come up with a criminal profile.