DNA links Richard Neil, 67, to decades-old child sex assaults in Ontario parks

Richard Neil, 67, stands trial in Brampton for 17 charges tied to violent sexual assaults on three children in Ontario parks between 1992 and 1995. DNA and fingerprint evidence connect him to all three attacks.

DNA and fingerprints tie Ontario man to three cold-case child attacks from the 1990s

A Brampton court heard Monday that genetic genealogy analysis and physical evidence have linked Richard Neil, 67, to a series of violent sexual assaults against children in southern Ontario parks spanning three years in the early 1990s, CBC.ca reports.

Crown attorney Shazin Karim told the jury that an unidentified attacker had bound three children — aged eight, ten and fifteen — in separate incidents at parks in Brampton, Kitchener and Oakville between 1992 and 1995, sexually assaulting each victim before fleeing.

Neil has pleaded not guilty to 17 charges, including kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm and administering a stupefying drug.

Genetic genealogy breaks cold case

Investigators first identified Neil as a suspect in recent years through genetic genealogy analysis carried out in the United States, Karim said. The technique — which compares crime scene DNA against genetic data voluntarily submitted to direct-to-consumer genealogy services — was not available to police in the 1990s.

Following that lead, police gathered further evidence that positively identified Neil as the assailant, according to the Crown. His DNA matched samples recovered from all three crime scenes: Norton Place Park in Brampton, Idlewood Park in Kitchener and Wildwood Park in Oakville. His fingerprints also matched those lifted from a bag and a bottle the attacker had carried at the time of the assaults.

Employment records and seized devices

Karim told jurors that employment records place Neil at Canada Post in Waterloo at the time of the 1992 assault in neighbouring Kitchener. After his arrest in 2024, police seized Neil's electronic devices and found photos and videos pointing to what the Crown described as an "interest" in urine drinking — consistent with details from the victims' accounts.

According to an indictment filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Neil is also accused of making a video recording constituting child pornography on the date of the Oakville attack against the fifteen-year-old girl.

Defence disputes identity, not victims' accounts

Karim acknowledged that the victims' accounts of what occurred are not contested by the defence. The dispute, she said, centres on whether Neil was in fact the assailant.

Neil appeared in court wearing a dark suit jacket and white buttoned shirt, seated beside his lawyer Leo Adler. He was observed glancing toward the jury during the Crown's opening statement.

The identities of all three victims are protected by a publication ban.

This story contains details of sexual assaults against children.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)