DA: DNA evidence led to arrest of Lunenburg man for aggravated rape at Acton train station in 2013

WOBURN, Mass. — A Lunenburg man has been charged with aggravated rape for a reported sexual assault at a train station in Acton in 2013, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said.

Christopher Aldrich, 28, is accused of raping a 22-year-old woman at knifepoint as she waited for the train at a station in South Acton around 9 p.m. on June 18, 2013, Ryan told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Joseph Hurley ordered Aldrich be held without bail after a dangerousness hearing in Concord District Court on Tuesday. He is due back in court on March 22.

Forensic genealogy ultimately led to a DNA match, which led authorities to arrest Aldrich late last week, Ryan said.

“What we want to make clear is that we do not abandon these cases. The arsenal of tools that we have continues to grow,” she said of unsolved cold cases.

On June 18, 2013, the victim was waiting at the train station, using her cell phone to make a call when she noticed a man walk toward the platform. When he approached her, he took out a fixed-blade knife, threatened to hurt her with the knife, and then raped her, Ryan said.

The suspect took the victim’s cell phone and threw it from the scene, and ran off, Ryan said. There were no surveillance cameras at the crime scene.

The victim then rummaged through the area, found her cell phone, and called 911. Police responded and took the victim to the hospital, where she was treated and medical staff collected evidence for a rape kit.

For the next eight years, despite evidence from the rape kit being submitted to various databases, there was no DNA match to the perpetrator, Ryan said.

In 2021, as part of an ongoing investigation, investigators contacted Parabon NanoLabs to conduct Forensic Genetic Genealogy analysis. This technology analyzes a DNA profile to identify distant relatives to develop a pool of potential suspects. Aldrich was then identified as a person of interest.

On Nov. 9, 2022, Aldrich was involved in a one-car crash in Acton, when his Ford Crown Victoria struck a utility pole on School Street, and police responded, Ryan said.  Officers were able to lawfully seize items from his car, including an open bottle of Fireball, and during his medical treatment at a nearby hospital.

At the crash, officers were able to collect additional items with Aldrich’s DNA. Crime Laboratory personnel swabbed the items, and ultimately matched his DNA profile to the sexual assault kit from the 2013 assault in Acton.

The chance of this match occurring is less than 1 in 3 sextillion people (1 in 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000), Ryan said.

Ryan said his recent arrest is the work of her department’s cold case unit that was launched in 2019.

“We’re really changing the narrative of what defines a cold case. At the same time, we’re sending a strong message to” perpetrators, Ryan said.

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