MA Man Charged In 2013 Commuter Rail Sex Assault: DA

ACTON, MA — An arrest has been made in a 2013 cold case in which a woman was sexually assaulted at knifepoint, according to a statement from Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Christopher Aldrich, 28, of Lunenberg, was charged with aggravated rape.

On June 18, 2013, a 22-year-old woman was waiting alone at the South Acton Commuter Rail Station when she was approached by a white man she did not know. When the woman completed a phone call, the man is accused of displaying a knife, threatening to hurt her, then raping her at knifepoint, according to the statement.

The man then forced the woman to throw away her phone and fled on foot. After he fled, the woman found her phone and called 911.

Police responded within minutes but could not locate the assailant, and there were no surveillance cameras in the area, according to the statement.

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where she was treated by a trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. Forensic evidence collected from this examination was sent to the State Police Crime Laboratory, whose chemists developed a detailed DNA profile of the attacker.

That profile was compared with state and national offender databases without success.

The investigation continued and in 2021 Middlesex prosecutors and police contacted a lab to conduct forensic genetic genealogy analysis. This technology can analyze aspects of a DNA profile to identify distant relatives of the source to develop a pool of potential suspects. Aldrich was identified as a person of interest, according to the statement.

Aldrich was involved in a one-car crash Nov. 9 when his Ford Crown Victoria struck a utility pole on School Street in Acton.

Police responded and during investigation seized several items from Aldrich’s vehicle, including an open bottle of the alcohol.

At the crash, police officers were able to collect additional items with Aldrich’s DNA. Crime lab personnel then swabbed the items and developed a profile from each item. The profiles were a match to each another and to the offender profile collected from the victim of the 2013 sexual assault, according to the statement.

Aldrich was arraigned Tuesday in Concord District Court. A judge ordered that he be held without bail after a dangerousness hearing.

“Today marks an important milestone in the work of the Cold Case Unit that I launched in 2019," Ryan said in a statement. "Thanks to the great work of that team, we are changing the narrative of what defines 'cold case' and at the same time sending a strong message to victims and perpetrators of sexual violence in this County. The mere passage of time does nothing to affect our resolve to pursue justice in these cases."