Accomplice In Kidnapping/Rape Cold Case Sought: Danbury Police

DANBURY, CT — Danbury police said Thursday that the victim in the late 1980s kidnapping/rape cold case was 11-years-old at the time of the incident.

Detectives said they believe there was an accomplice. Police released the original sketch (from 1989) of the second suspect.

image via Danbury police

"Again, as these incidents are still being actively investigated, and other arrests are pending, we are asking for people who might know something about these incidents to contact Det. John Basile at 203-797-4668, the Danbury Police Investigative Services Bureau at 203-797-4662, or the anonymous Tips Line at 203-790-TIPS (8477). Anonymous web tips can also be submitted here: https://www.tip411.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=22782" police said in a news release.

Original post: DANBURY, CT — After reopening a case gone cold after nearly 35 years, police have charged a Danbury man with the abduction of a woman.

Police took David V. Coffey, 53, into custody on Oct. 22, 2024. The investigation began in the late 1980s, according to the Danbury Police Department.

Back then, Danbury Police detectives investigated a series of incidents that alarmed residents in the Lake Avenue/Merrimac Street neighborhood, including the abduction and rape of area women. The case was never solved.

The Danbury Police Special Victims Unit reopened the case in November 2023 after being contacted by a female victim of abduction and rape during that same period. After re-interviewing people identified by the original investigators, and availing themselves of modern forensic resources, police were able to positively identify Coffey as a suspect.

Police have charged Coffey, who lived in the area at the time, with first degree-kidnapping in a 1989 incident involving the abduction and rape of a local woman. He is being held on a court-set bond of $750,000.

Police are requesting that anyone who might know something about the Lake Avenue/Merrimac Street area incidents contact Det. John Basile at 203-797-4668, the Danbury Police Investigative Services Bureau at 203-797-4662, or the anonymous Tips Line at 203-790-TIPS (8477). Anonymous web tips can also be submitted online here.