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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  Thursday, January 31, 2008

Arrest on "Cold Case" Sexual Assault 

(Hartford) - Hartford Police Department Major Crimes  Division Detective Michael Sheldon, the State of Connecticut Department of Corrections, and the Chief State’s Attorney's Cold Case Unit announced today that they had solved a January 22, 1988 sexual assault that occurred at 60 Charter Oak Avenue.  The case was solved as a result of a positive DNA hit from evidence that was collected at the time of the incident and tested by the State of Connecticut Forensic Lab.  The positive DNA match established Duane Foster, DOB  12/24/1960, AKA Leonard Martin, Anthony Martin, and Dwayne Foster, formerly of 447 Barbour Street, Hartford, and 167 Liberty Street, Middletown, as the suspect in the case.

As a result of this new evidence, HPD Detective Michael Sheldon was able to obtain an arrest warrant for Duane Foster charging him with Kidnapping in the First Degree in connection with the1988 sexual assault.   Foster, who is currently incarcerated in Virginia on unrelated charges, is also listed as an escapee from the Department of Corrections in Connecticut.  The State of Connecticut will be seeking extradition of Foster on these charges with a judge set bond of $250,000.

This is the third cold case solved by the HPD and the State of Connecticut Chief State's Attorney's Cold Case Unit since January 24, 2008.

In commenting on the third cold case arrest in seven days, Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts said, "It is my hope with these arrests victims and their families can have confidence in the knowledge that the Hartford Police Department will never give up in its effort to bring criminals to justice, and they and their loved ones will never be forgotten."

The Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney was established in 1998 to investigate homicides and other serious crimes that have gone unsolved for an extended period of time. It currently includes Inspectors from the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, the State of Connecticut Department of Corrections, Bloomfield Police Department, Farmington Police Department, Hartford Police Department, Wethersfield Police Department and Windsor Police Department. Click here to visit the Chief State's Attorney's Cold Case webpage.

Duane Foster,

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Contact:   Nancy Mulroy, Public Information Officer, Hartford Police Department,  (860) 757-4021
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