DNA used to charge suspect in 5-year-old sexual assault

RED WING -- A Red Wing man has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman nearly five years ago, after recent DNA tests identified him as a suspect.

Wilmer Eliel Lopez, 27, was charged last month in Goodhue District Court with two counts of first-degree burglary and one count each of second-degree burglary, third-degree criminal sexual conduct, fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bail was set at $250,000 without conditions and $75,000 with conditions.

The investigation of the sexual assault began April 21, 2002, when a 26-year-old Red Wing woman told police she'd been assaulted at her home by a man she didn't know, according to a criminal complaint.

Although DNA tests were done using evidence collected from the sexual assault, the case remain unsolved.

On Jan. 30, 2007, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told a Red Wing police investigator that the profile of the DNA sample from the sexual assault case matched Lopez's DNA profile. On Feb. 1, the alleged victim identified Lopez from a photographic line-up as the man who assaulted her.

When questioned about the case last month, Lopez allegedly told police he was living in Red Wing in 2002 and was doing drugs and having sex with a lot of women then. He did not admit to breaking into the woman's home and sexually assaulting her, according to the complaint.