WINNIPEG — Police say two suspects in the beating and sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl are also believed to have attacked a second woman on the same night.
Two males face several charges, including attempted murder, in the attack on teen Rinelle Harper, who is from the Garden Hill First Nation, but had been going to high school in Winnipeg.
They also face charges in the second attack on a 23-year-old woman.
Supt. Danny Smyth investigators believe the same suspects attacked Rinelle twice on Friday night.
He says she was out with friends when she got seperated from her group. She met two males who struck up a conversation with her. The three of them walked to the Assiniboine River where Rinelle was attacked and ended up in the frigid water.
"Investigators now know that Rinelle managed to crawl out of the river a short distance away upstream and she was attacked a second time ... and left unconscious and essentially left for dead on the riverwalk," Smyth told a news conference Wednesday.
She was found by a passerby the next morning and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
Police say the second woman was attacked a short time later. Again, the attackers struck up a conversation with the woman and then turned on her, Smyth said.
She was also sexually assaulted and left unconscious.
Justin James Hudson, who is 20, along with a 17 year-old male are charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon.
Smyth said police have no information at this point to link the attacks to the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, whose body was found, wrapped in plastic, in the Red River in August. She had been missing for about a week.
However, investigators will take a closer look for any links between the assaults, said Smyth, who added police haven't had much contact with the two suspects in the past.
