Cold cases opened after rape and murder arrest

Eight unsolved cases are to be reopened by Copenhagen Police after a 45-year-old man was arrested in connection with a murder and two rapes. DNA evidence is thought to have linked the man to a rape earlier this year, a rape in 2005 and a murder in 1990, all in the Amager district. Now police our opening their cold case files in the hope that the same man could be responsible for other unsolved crimes.

“There are heaps of papers in these cases. We can’t dig into everything, but we need to make sure that we use any evidence available to us: technical trails, blood tracks, finger prints, or anything else that could link them to the man,” Police Inspector Ove Dahl said in a report by the Copenhagen Post.

One case of particular interest to officers is that of the brutal rape of four young women in 2005, also in the Amager district. Two twin sisters aged 14, a 15-year-old friend and a 23-year-old woman were raped at knife point in the same house before being ordered to wash away the DNA evidence.

If no DNA evidence is available in the cold cases, investigators will attempt to use the original testimonies of the victims in order to incriminate or rule out the 45-year-old.

After DNA tests linked the man to two rapes and a murder, he was arrested at his home in Valby on November 15. Copenhagen Magistrates have ordered him to remain in custody for four weeks while further investigations are carried out. So far, the man is maintaining his innocence.