Man charged in 3 Lexington sexual assaults has been tied to another case, police say
A Kentucky man previously charged in three Lexington sexual assault cases is now facing charges in another sexual assault due to a breakthrough discovery by a Kentucky State Police investigative team, officials announced Monday.
George Aldridge, 53, was indicted last month on a charge of first-degree rape in Jefferson County, according to court records. KSP said the incident happened in 2005 and investigators solved it nearly two decades later thanks to DNA evidence.
The new indictment adds to several other offenses Aldridge has been accused of: he was indicted on two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of kidnapping and one count of first-degree wanton endangerment in April, according to court records.
Those charges stem from three abductions and sexual assaults between 2009 and 2016 in Fayette County, Lexington police previously said.
The second indictment came as a result of a breakthrough discovery by KSP’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative investigative team, KSP said. Testing of collected evidence led the team to Aldridge, and investigative work in KSP’s laboratory matched Aldridge’s DNA with the evidence in the case.
“Our team continues working and reworking these investigations to bring justice to the victims and their families, even if it’s decades later,” KSP Detective Ben Wolcott, lead Sexual Assault Kit Initiative investigator, said in a press release. “We have not, and will not, give up on these cases.”
A Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant funded by the Attorney General’s Office helped investigators do DNA lab testing in the case, KSP said.
The grant program is funded federally by the U.S. Department of Justice, KSP said.
“Through federal funding, our office has brought powerful new forensic techniques to Kentucky that help us solve some of our most heinous cold cases and provide victims with answers they have been waiting so long for,” Robyn Diez d’Aux, executive director of the Attorney General Office of Victim’s Advocacy, said in a press release. “We want to thank all partners who worked on this case to ensure justice isn’t denied to these victims.”
Aldridge is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond for his Fayette County cases, according to jail records. Prosecutors in Lexington previously asked to hike Aldridge’s bond after it was initially set at $150,000, but District Judge Bruce Bell ultimately denied the request.
His bond was lowered to $50,000 by Circuit Judge Julie Goodman after he was indicted. She ordered that he be on house arrest and could not have contact with the alleged victims if he posted his bond.
Aldridge’s bond in his Jefferson County case is $25,000, according to court records.
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 9:17 AM.
