22 yrs ago a juvenile was brutally raped, this month, CODIS DNA system identifies a health care executive Eric Ferguson

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Victim was age 13 or younger.



The girl was walking near Laurel Road in April 2002 when police say she was approached by a man with a gun. He allegedly ordered her into a car and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. The girl was eventually able to escape and run to a home in the neighborhood for help. Police at the time took DNA samples, but no match was found to a suspect.

In 2022, Oakley police learned that they got a hit in CODIS, a national law enforcement database of DNA taken from convicted offenders, detainees, missing persons and unsolved cases. The CODIS match came back to a man living in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho area, prompting Oakley detectives to begin looking into the suspect. In early May, they were able to travel to Idaho with a warrant to collect DNA from the man, 49-year-old Eric Ferguson of Rathdrum. Ferguson's sample was a "direct match to the DNA recovered during the initial investigation in 2002," police said.

According to Oakley police, Ferguson lived in Contra Costa County at the time of the crime. Until recently, he had been working as the executive director of facilities at Kootenai Health, a health care provider with services in Idaho, Washington and Montana.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/health-care-executive-arrested-bay-area-rape-19479103.php



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COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – A man suspected of kidnapping and raping a minor in 2002 was an Executive Director of Facilities at Kootenai Health until a few months ago.

Eric Ferguson was arrested by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office in Rathdrum on Thursday night. According to the sheriff’s office, he was a suspect in a two decade old case out of Oakley, California.

Ferguson was a Executive Director of Facilities at Kootenai Health for about two years starting in 2022.

Ferguson is currently in Kootenai County jail awaiting extradition to California.

https://www.nonstoplocal.com/spokane/news/man-arrested-in-rape-and-kidnapping-case-was-vice-president-at-kootenai-health/article_6814cfc6-b7fb-5919-b6f7-14d7ca82574d.html



The CODIS notification identified a man residing in Northern Idaho. With this information, Oakley Police Detectives began coordinating with the U.S. Marshals Service and a detective from Coeur d’Alene Police Department. Oakley Police Detectives Gill and Pistello travelled to Idaho on May 12, 2024, and were assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service, Coeur d’Alene Police Department and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office in serving a search warrant for DNA collection from the lead suspect in the case.

Detectives Gill and Pistello traveled back home and presented DNA from the lead suspect to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office Laboratory so it could be compared to the DNA in the sexual assault case; the DNA from the lead suspect was a direct match to the DNA recovered during the initial investigation in 2002.

On May 16, 2024, Oakley Detectives presented the case to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and a formal complaint was filed against the man, who is identified as Eric J. Ferguson (49, Rathdrum, Idaho). Ferguson is a former resident of the East Contra Costa County area (he lives in the area in 2002). The formal complaint was signed by a judge from the Contra Costa County Superior Court, for the charges of: Rape of an Incompetent Person, Forcible Oral Copulation and Kidnapping for Rape.

On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service, Coeur d’Alene Police Department and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, utilizing their SWAT team, conducted an operation which brought Ferguson into custody. Oakley Detectives Gill and Pistello will bring Ferguson back to California later this week and book him into the Contra Costa County jail for the crimes that were committed 22 years ago.

According to Kootenai County Sheriff’s Lt. Zachary Sifford, Ferguson was 29 years old at that time and allegedly used a dangerous or deadly weapon during the commission of the crimes.

https://contracostaherald.com/idaho-man-arrested-in-22-year-old-oakley-kidnap-rape-of-girl/

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

1. more... here is how he was caught

Investigators took a DNA swab from the victim.

The results were uploaded to a national database of other DNA profiles, called CODIS or Combined DNA Index System, with no hits for decades.

"Many of these profiles lie dormant, just waiting for something to be matched up to them," Beard said.

Two decades passed without any leads.

Then detectives learned of a possible DNA match two years ago.


That led them to 49-year-old Eric Ferguson of Northern Idaho.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office says they got his DNA swab when he was arrested for a DUI in 2022.

"From our understanding, this is from a previous arrest where they had taken his DNA sample, and so it kind of gave them the tip but we needed to get it directly from a search warrant from his body and so it really got the investigation going again for them," Zachary Sifford, a spokesperson for the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office said.

Beard says two years later, two of his newer detectives got a search warrant to do their own DNA swab to confirm the match.

They hopped on a plane and with the help of three other agencies, they got a fresh DNA sample from Ferguson.

They flew it back to California and confirmed a match.

"They notified us and we assembled our joint task force swat team with the City of Coeur d'Alene Police and we executed that warrant for his arrest, he surrendered right away and went into custody without any incident," Sifford said.

https://abc7news.com/post/idaho-man-eric-ferguson-arrested-rape-kidnapping-oakley/14884382/

[Cha]

7. "The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office says they got his DNA swab when he was arrested for a DUI in 2022."

Fucker hoisted on his own Petard!

TY!

[H2O Man]

2. Recommended.

An ugly story. But a good ending.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. the long arm of the law....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. It took a while for justice to be brought, but it happened at last.

I hope the young woman has had appropriate support and therapy so that her life can go forward from this cowardly, vicious act.

K&R

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

5. well said Peggy

[whathehell]

8. I don't know if this is possible..

but, together with the criminal charges, I hope this monster can be sued in civil court for payment of all the therapy this person needed.

[Cha]

6. Thank Goodness the girl was able to

Escape and make it to a neighbor's house and call the police right way and Get the DNA!

22 years later. Boom.. they find the POS Rapist in Idaho ..

TY!

[tulipsandroses]

9. Glad they caught the bastard. I bet there are other victims

I hope they are able to come forward .

[Lonestarblue]

10. DNA is so important in finding and prosecuting these predators, yet thousands of rape kits sit untested.

“In 2022, at least 25,000 untested rape kits sat in law enforcement agencies and crime labs across the country. This figure only accounts for data reported by 30 states and Washington, DC; the total backlog number is unknown.

Untested rape kits can have significant consequences for both the criminal justice system and sexual assault survivors. Not only can rape kit testing provide crucial evidence that helps identify perpetrators and bring them to justice, it also can connect perpetrators to other assaults. Failing to test kits in a timely manner can mean missed opportunities to identify serial offenders and prevent further victimization.

The failure to submit rape kits for lab testing in numerous jurisdictions has decreased community trust in law enforcement. Survivors from Houston in 2020 to Memphis in 2023 have filed class action lawsuits against city officials for their rape kit backlogs, asserting that timely testing of rape kits could have prevented their own or others’ sexual assaults.”

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-rape-kits-are-awaiting-testing-in-the-us-see-the-data-by-state/