Conviction in Long-Unsolved Burlgary-Sex Assault of Cambridge Teen

District Attorney and Cambridge Police Announce Conviction in Long-Unsolved Burglary/Sex Assault of Cambridge Teen

CAMBRIDGE, MA, December 19, 2023 -- Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow announced today that Roger W. Reddick, Jr., 41, of Cambridge has pleaded guilty to three counts of Rape of a Child with Force. These charges stem from a sexual attack on a then-thirteen-year-old girl which occurred in October 2000 after the defendant, who was a stranger to the family, broke into her home.

“For twenty-three years, the victim in this case has lived with the mystery of who came into her bedroom and violently sexually assaulted her. Today, that woman, now thirty-seven years old and living outside of Massachusetts, had the opportunity to hear the defendant admit to what he had done to her. She was able, through her statement to the Court, to describe the impact of these events and the defendant’s actions on her life. This case exemplifies our commitment to continuing to work on uncharged cases, to employing new technological advances and to collaborating with investigators and scientists to identify and hold accountable perpetrators. Even though decades have passed, Roger Reddick has now been held accountable for his conduct,” said District Attorney Ryan.

“This is an example of how dogged detective work and diligent prosecution can ensure justice and provide accountability,” said Elow. “We will always be here for survivors and will never give up trying to find and prosecute the people behind such a horrific crime.”

In the early morning hours of October 18, 2000, a male intruder entered the victim’s home in Cambridge, where she lived with her mother and father. When he reached her second-floor bedroom, he rushed to the victim’s bed, covered her mouth with his hand, and ordered her to be quiet. The intruder repeatedly sexually assaulted her. During the attack, he specifically asked the victim how old she was, and she told him truthfully that she was only thirteen. When she saw an opportunity to escape, the victim ran out of her bedroom and screamed for help. The intruder followed her out of the bedroom, then ran past her down a flight of stairs and out of the house and into the street.

Cambridge Police responded to the scene and searched the neighborhood for the attacker without success. A crime scene response team searched the home, gathering evidence and looking for objects that were out of place. They observed a jewelry box that had been moved and recovered a latent fingerprint from the exterior of the box. In 2009, police were able to identify that latent print as having been left by the left middle finger of Roger Reddick, Jr. but did not have sufficient corroborating evidence to charge him at that point.

Also recovered from the crime scene were a pair of green patterned men’s boxer shorts that had been left behind at the foot of the victim’s bed, and a pair of black work boots left at the bottom of the stairs. Chemists from the State Police Crime Laboratory attempted to develop a DNA profile from the boxer shorts, but with the technology available to them at the time, they were unable to develop a profile that was eligible to be uploaded to the national DNA database.

In September of 2022, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s Cold Case Unit began a renewed examination of this case. Working with the crime laboratory and utilizing new advances in DNA technology, they identified Roger Reddick, Jr. as the source of the major DNA profile on the green boxers. Reddick was arrested on March 30, 2023.

Following Reddick’s arrest, the District Attorney’s office obtained a court order for a buccal swab from Reddick for comparison purposes. Using that DNA, the State Police Crime Laboratory was able to conclusively link Reddick to DNA recovered from the green boxer shorts; to a swab taken from the victim at the time of the crime; and to the tongue and laces of the black work boots.
At the time of the offense, Reddick was a resident of the City of Cambridge who lived less than a half mile from the scene of the crime.

Reddick pleaded guilty today in the Middlesex Superior Court. Associate Justice James Budreau imposed a sentence of 10-12 years in state prison, with 3 years of probation to be served following the completion of the committed sentence. He has been held in custody since his arraignment on March 30, 2023, following the presentation of evidence at two separate dangerousness hearings.

The prosecutor assigned to this case was David Solet, Chief of the Cold Case Unit. The victim witness advocate was Susie Marshall, Deputy Chief of Victims Services. This case was investigated by the detectives and crime scene personnel from the Cambridge Police Department, and the forensic scientists from the State Police Crime Laboratory.