Minneapolis serial rapist charged in 2013 abduction, assault of 16-year-old girl
FILE PHOTO: Police squad car. (Photo by Carsten Rehder/picture alliance via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Serial rapist Jory Wiebrand has been charged in connection to the 2013 abduction and assault of a 16-year-old girl at Bunker Overlook Park in Andover.
Wiebrand, 37, of Ham Lake, was charged via warrant on Tuesday with first-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and first-degree aggravated robbery in the June 11, 2013, incident.
In 2021, Wiebrand was sentenced to more than 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping multiple women between 2015-2020. Police said Wiebrand targeted women in the Marcy-Holmes and Dinkytown neighbors over the course of several years. He was ultimately charged in five counts of criminal sexual conduct and was linked to at least 10 cases by prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to all five counts in January 2021.
Wiebrand's arrest came after a push by Minneapolis police following a reported attempted kidnapping in February 2020. After that attack, police released sketches of the suspect and announced a link between that case and other attacks.
Charges in 2013 case
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to Bunker Overlook Park at 5:12 p.m. on June 11, 2013, where they spoke with a 16-year-old girl who said she was walking home from the park on a trail when a man ran up behind her, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a wooded area with tall grass.
The girl told police the man said if she screamed, he'd kill her. He then put her in a headlock and choked her until she passed out, charges said. She woke up about a minute later as the man ran away from her. He stole her phone when he fled and police recovered a water bottle that had been discarded.
Police did not develop immediate leads on the suspect at the time. But charges say in 2019 and 2020, there were a number of physical and sexual assaults in Minneapolis in which the methodology and suspect description were consistent with the 16-year-old victim's account.
During the investigation into the Minneapolis cases, authorities obtained a DNA profile that matched Wiebrand's. The DNA was later determined to be a match to the water bottle police found at the scene of the 2013 attack.
Wiebrand is serving out his prison sentence at MCF-Oak Park Heights.