DENVER – A suspect in a sexual assault cold case from Denver was identified after 18 years and is now awaiting extradition to Colorado, the Denver Police Department announced Wednesday.
Jason Groshart, 49, was taken into custody Tuesday in Missouri where he remains in the Pettis County Jail as efforts are underway to extradite him to Denver. He is being held for investigation of first-degree sexual assault, first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping.
On March, 2004, Denver police officers responded to a home near the intersection of W. 37th Ave. and Stuart Street on a report of a burglary and sexual assault. Police collected DNA evidence and investigated the case but were unable to identify a suspect at the time, police said in a news release Wednesday.
It wasn’t until years later, through Investigative Genetic Genealogy DNA research – a tool used by Denver’s Integrated Cold Case Project – that a possible connection to Groshart was established by investigators working the case.
Detectives learned Groshart was living in Sedalia, Mo., and recently obtained DNA evidence that was compared against the DNA recovered in 2004. A direct DNA comparison identified Groshart as the suspect in the March 2004 sexual assault, police said.
“The arrest of Groshart demonstrates our commitment to victims of crime and that the Denver Police Department never forgets,” said Denver Chief of Police Ron Thomas. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who harm our community. Groshart committed a crime of violence against a member of our community and thanks to the Genetic Genealogy & Familial Match Searching grant, we hope we are able to provide some relief to the survivor.”