(Anchorage, AK) – Following a week-long trial, an Anchorage jury Tuesday found 52-year-old Ronald Fischer of Xenia, Ohio, guilty of the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in Anchorage in 1995. The jury deliberated for approximately two hours before finding Fischer guilty of Sexual Assault in the First
Degree.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 1995, the then-17-year-old victim was walking home from a friend’s house. While walking on Northway Avenue, a man began following her and asking her where she was going. The man then grabbed her by her hair and coat. The victim was able to get out of her coat and ran, however, the man caught her, again grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her to a fenced area behind a nearby restaurant. There, the victim reported that the man forcibly sexually assaulted her.
After the incident, the victim ran to a nearby building that at the time was the Anchorage Daily News building and asked a mail carrier for help. The Anchorage Police Department responded and investigated the incident. A sexual assault kit, including vaginal swabs, was collected by medical personnel and preserved in Anchorage Police Department evidence. The kit was not submitted for DNA testing and no suspect was identified.
In 2022, the sexual assault kit was tested as part of the Alaska Capital Project. The DNA testing led to a match to Ronald Fischer in the CODIS DNA database. The Alaska State Crime Detection Lab confirmed the match by comparing the DNA profiles from semen samples collected in the victim’s sexual assault kit to a known DNA sample taken from Ronald Fischer. The victim was shown a lineup containing Fischer’s photo and she was able to identify him as her assailant nearly three decades after the sexual assault.
The case was initially investigated by former Anchorage Police Department detective Elmo Hill. When the case was reopened in 2022, it was investigated by Anchorage Police Department Detective Brett Sarber of the APD Cold Case Unit. Detective Sarber testified at trial.
Assistant Attorneys General Erin McCarthy and Amy Wang of the Office of Special Prosecutions prosecuted the case for the State. This is the second sexual assault conviction this year that resulted from the testing of previously-untested sexual assault kits as part of the Alaska Capital Project.
“We are thankful that a jury held Ronald Fischer accountable for this crime. We hope the victim and her family can obtain some closure in light of this verdict,” AAG Erin McCarthy said. “The State appreciates the attention and dedication of the jurors in this case. The Department of Law thanks the Anchorage Police Department’s Cold Case Unit, Bode Technologies, and the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Lab for their partnership and assistance in investigating this case over the course of three decades.”
Fischer is being held without bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 26, at 9 a.m. Fischer could face a maximum sentence of 30 years for the first-degree sexual assault conviction, pursuant to the sentencing laws that were in place in 1995.
CONTACT: Assistant Attorney General Erin McCarthy at (907) 269-2650 or erin.mccarthy@alaska.gov.
