Nearly three decades after a 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted behind a restaurant, a man has been charged and arrested, Alaska officials said.
Ronald Wade Fischer, 51, was indicted on a charge of first-degree sexual abuse on March 30, the state attorney general’s office said in a news release shared by the Anchorage Police Department on April 6.
Despite initial “investigative efforts” into the 1995 Anchorage sexual assault, a suspect was never identified, and “the case went cold,” according to officials.
Officials said the sexual assault kit from the case was not tested until 2020 through a “state-funded initiative.”
DNA from the kit pointed to Fischer as a suspect, according to officials.
After reopening the case and conducting an additional investigation, state prosecutors presented the case before a grand jury, which indicted Fischer, officials said.
Fischer was arrested on April 5 and will be extradited to Alaska, officials said. If convicted, he could potentially face a 30-year prison sentence.