Police in Oakley believe they have solved a more than two-decade-old sexual assault cold case after a man’s DNA turned up in the national database following his arrest in Idaho in 2022.
The case began in April 2002, when a cognitively impaired girl was walking her dog near Laurel Road in Oakley. She was approached by a man who got out of his car, pointed a gun at her and ordered her into the back seat, where he sexually assaulted her at gunpoint.
At one point, the girl was able to escape and went to a nearby house for help. Police arrived and an investigation was launched, which included collecting the DNA left behind from the suspect.
No matches were found until 2022, when a CODIS hit – or Combined DNA Index System – appeared in the national database, identifying a man living in Idaho.
Working with the U.S. Marshals, Oakley police worked with officers in Coeur d’Alene and eventually traveled to Idaho on May 12 to serve a search warrant for the suspect’s DNA.
Oakley detectives returned to California with the DNA sample and presented it to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office laboratory so it could be compared to the DNA stored in the cold case. They claim it was a direct match.
On May 16, authorities in Idaho arrested 49-year-old Eric Ferguson, who police said lived in Contra Costa County in 2002. Ferguson was arrested on suspicion of rape of an incompetent person, forcible oral copulation and kidnapping for the purpose of rape.
Ferguson remains in custody in Idaho but will be transferred to Contra Costa County later this week, according to police.
