Police forces in York and Peel regions have charged 32-year-old Toronto resident Jaehyun Cho, who also goes by David Cho, in relation to two violent sexual assaults dating back to 2013 and 2014.
The first incident occurred in Mississauga in September 2013, when a woman got off a public transit bus around midnight was grabbed while walking, threatened with a weapon, dragged into a dark area and sexually assaulted.
Det. Sgt. Mustafa Durgun of Peel Regional Police said they immediately launched an investigation, but it wasn't until 14 months later they learned of a forensic link to a similar incident in Richmond Hill.
In November 2014, a woman got off a bus on Yonge Street at Bernard Avenue and was walking after midnight when she was grabbed, threatened with a knife and dragged into a field. She was then sexually assaulted.
At at news conference at York Regional Police headquarters in Aurora, York Insp. Simon James said they sent forensic evidence from the scene to the Centre of Forensic Sciences.
“Within a number of weeks, they discovered that both the York and Peel cases were linked forensically,” he said.
Durgun and James worked together, forming the Blue Light task force to try to find the offender.
In 2015, they used ancestry DNA testing to determine that the offender was likely an East Asian male and then, in 2019, further genealogical testing determined he was likely of Korean descent.
Their big break then came at the end of 2021.
“In fall of 2021, we received information from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in regards to a forensic link for an incident unrelated to these two crimes. The offender's identity remained unknown, however this information furthered the investigation and gave investigators new leads to pursue,” James said.
Investigators spoke with witnesses from that incident — which police did not provide more details about as it is an ongoing investigation in another police jurisdiction — and through the information provided, they were able to identify the accused.
Cho was arrested in Brampton on March 11. He is charged with two counts each of kidnapping, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats to cause death, disguise with intent, robbery, and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Investigators found that in both sexual assault cases, the offender had made verbal threats toward the victims
“The offender threatened to kill her and her family if she reported the incident to police," Durgun said.
As a result of the threats, police believe there could be more victims who were afraid to report the assault to police.
“Investigators believe there may be more victims not reported to police. This may be because of threats the suspect has made to hurt them or their families or they may be reluctant to come forward to police and be involved in a police investigation," James said.
"I want to assure them that anyone who comes forward will be treated with compassion and respect. The identity of sexual assault victims is protected by law. There’s no statute of limitations as it pertains to sexual offences. If an incident occurred a long time ago, it can still be prosecuted today.”
The case is no longer considered a cold case, however, the investigation will continue as police deep dive into the accused, prepare information for the court proceeding, and they will investigate any other reports that may come as a result of this arrest.
“As demonstrated by this case, we never give up trying to solve these crimes. That’s a very important piece I think for both victims and offenders to realize we will not stop and we will continue working to solve these cases,” James said.
Cho remains in police custody and is to appear in court in Newmarket March 17.
