ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A six-count indictment was unsealed in connection with a 2005 cold case homicide in Albany County Court on Friday. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office said Darius Ashley, 50, of Albany, is facing multiple charges, including murder, kidnapping, attempted rape, and sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl, Gretchen Perham.
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Charges
- First-degree murder
- First-degree murder
- Second-degree murder
- Second-degree kidnapping
- First-degree attempted rape
- First-degree sexual abuse
The DA’s office said Perham was walking to Hackett Middle School from her home on Quail Street and was last seen on Myrtle Avenue. A Department of General Services employee found her body later that day, down an embankment across from Mount Hope Drive, court officials said.
Albany District Attorney Lee Kindlon said new technology and DNA evidence led to a break in the case. Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox said Ashley was employed at Parsons on May 13, 2005, when he allegedly kidnapped, sexually abused, and killed Perham.
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Cox added that Ashley has been incarcerated in Coxsackie Correctional Facility since July 2005 for abducting, raping, and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old on April 13, 2005, an attempted kidnapping on June 9 at Hackett Middle School, and the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 22-year-old woman on July 10. Authorities said DNA collection from the July 10 kidnapping led to Ashley’s arrest, but the evidence wasn’t strong enough to charge him for the Perhams’ murder.
“Despite the best efforts of law enforcement, the leads in this case grew cold, and no arrests were made. That is, until today,” Kindlon said. “This is an expression of our care for our community. When done well, our criminal justice system is a collective promise to look out for one another enough to seek justice, no matter how long the path or how high the hurdle.”…