A string of violent sexual assault cases over 14 years that gripped the city of Vancouver, Canada, finally came to an end. Recently, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) charged 45-year-old Arturo Garcia Gorjon with four counts of sexual assault. The suspect was placed in custody in Regina, Saskatchewan Province, in connection to the sexual crime spree.
“I know none of this will change what happened to these women and I suspect nothing will permanently erase the trauma they’ve lived with. However, I do hope this arrest and these charges begin to provide the answers and accountability that has been missing for so many years,” said VPD Deputy Chief Const. Fiona Wilson, according to Surrey Now-Leader.
The cases stemmed from July 1, 2009, when a 20-year-old woman was sexually assaulted while walking around Granville Island. Though witnesses intervened in the violent and unprovoked assault, the defendant fled the scene and evaded the police. Four months later, a 25-year-old woman was violently attacked at the West End from behind while attempting to enter her apartment. Again, the suspect fled the scene, and no arrest was made.
Then, on June 12, 2010, another woman was sexually assaulted in Yale Town before authorities launched Project Scrimmage to solve the violent crimes that have gotten the Vancouver community on edge. Investigators of the project believed the same perpetrator committed all three sexual assaults.
Soon, a fourth sexual attack occurred on Christmas Eve of 2010, where investigators collected evidence that linked the other three cold cases to Gorjon.
“It is an intensely personal decision for any victim of violent crime to come forward and share their story with the police. We owe it to those who come forward to do everything we can to support them, to identify the people responsible, and to hold those offenders accountable,” said Wilson, reported Global News.
Though authorities remain silent regarding what type of evidence linked the defendant to the crime, they admitted it was physical evidence.
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