WEBSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - DNA lifted from used cigarettes helped police in Webster arrest a 35-year-old man in connection with a six-week investigation into the case of a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a local park, driven to Connecticut, and sexually assaulted in May, officials announced.
Joshua Besaw, of Thompson, Connecticut, was arrested at his home Wednesday morning and was taken to a US District Court to answer to charges including kidnapping and transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
“When we were able to tell the family that we had Mr. Besaw in custody, it was very emotional,” Shaw said. “To see that relief from the victim’s family was something I will never forget.”
The girl and her parents walked into the Webster police station on May 31 to report that the preteen had ridden her bicycle to May Street Park to meet a friend but instead ended up getting into a car with a man who said he needed help, according to Webster Police Chief Michael Shaw.
She also told her parents the man took her over the state line into Connecticut, sexually assaulted her, and then dropped her off somewhere in the vicinity of Chase Avenue in Dudley, where she ran to a nearby home.
“She’s a strong little girl,” Shaw said of the victim. “She’s a hero in my eyes.”
Besaw was identified as a suspect after an extensive investigation, which included the review of surveillance video in the area of the kidnapping.
Detectives later matched DNA from Besaw’s used cigarettes to DNA taken from the victim in May.
“This was a case of good, old-fashioned police work, and technology mixing,” Shaw said.
Besaw is being held without bail.
He is due back in court on Friday.
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