Arrest Made 12 Years After MA Rape When Rape Kit Finally Tested

FALL RIVER, MA — After 12 years of uncertainty, a man from Worcester was indicted in connection to a violent 2010 New Bedford rape case when the rape kit was finally tested this year, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said Friday.

A Bristol County Grand Jury indicted Scot Trudeau, 47, of aggravated rape and assault and battery, 12 years after the fact.

On March 18, 2010, a 23-year-old woman was walking on Coffin Avenue in New Bedford when she told police she was attacked by two strangers, hit on the head, dragged away and raped by one of them.

Immediately after, she called the police and was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford where hospital staff gave her a sexual assault examination kit. Quinn says that kit was never actually processed for DNA by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab.

The DA's office says it was one of about 1,148 rape kits in Bristol County that were never tested.

"This was a particularly brutal case," Quinn said. "The kit should have been fully tested. Victims have a right to have these kits tested."

Quinn's office recently began a review with the help of a federal grant to find and test untested rape kits from Bristol County.

Through this effort, the DNA collected after the 2010 New Bedford rape was finally tested in February and compared to DNA in the federal database, connecting the rape to the DNA of Scot Trudeau, 47, of Worcester.

According to Quinn, the survivor of the attack was "shocked" to learn the kit was never tested but was now relieved justice can be brought forward.

Trudeau had been in the system because of a 2015 federal conviction for child exploitation. Quinn said the rape could have been solved years ago if the survivor's rape kit had been tested right after the attack, instead of 12 years later.

Police told Quinn this particular kit wasn't tested because the case wasn't moving forward and there was no need for testing so no testing occurred.

"The only reason that happened is because we had the rape kit fully tested," Quinn said. "If we did not undertake this initiative and did not have the rape kit fully tested, this case would not be solved and also would be subject potentially to the statute of limitations and several years, which would bar prosecution."

In 2021, a law was passed to ensure all rape kits must be tested within 30 days after it was revealed that more than 6,000 rape kits from 2000 and later had been submitted to the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab but never tested.

Trudeau was arraigned earlier this week and is due back in court on Tuesday.