Suspect in 20-year-old cold case dies

The suspect in a 20-year-old sexual assault case in New Westminster has died in jail.

New Westminster police say James Gray, believed to be responsible for the 1996 attack on 79-year-old Dorothy Darnel, died last week while in custody at a pre-trial centre.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Gray will not face these matters in a court of law,” said New Westminster police Sgt. Jeff Scott in a statement Wednesday. “However, we are satisfied with the hard work of many investigators which advanced this file to a stage where we were able to arrest and charge Mr. Gray for the attack on Ms. Darnel back in 1996.”

Detectives used DNA and other evidence to link Gray to the sexual assault of Darnel.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 4, 1996, Darnel was viciously attacked in her home as she slept. Police say her attacker beat her so severely that her cheekbone was shattered and she lost sight in one eye. After Darnel lost consciousness, she was sexually assaulted.

Investigators collected evidence at the scene and said they followed up on hundreds of tips that came in from across the province.

An artist’s sketch of the suspect was circulated and a $12,000 reward was offered by the New Westminster Police Board and a private donor for the arrest and charge of the man responsible. Nothing turned up. However, a break in the case came two years ago, when detectives found a DNA link between a suspect from 1996 and a recent break and enter in Coquitlam.

Gray, a 48-year-old Vancouver man, was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, break and enter, forcible confinement, robbery, choking to overcome resistance, and uttering threats.