New Bedford Cold Case Rape Suspect Found Dangerous

FALL RIVER — A Worcester man accused of raping a woman in New Bedford in 2010 has been found dangerous and ordered held without bail, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Scot Trudeau was recently indicted for a cold case 2010 New Bedford aggravated rape that came to light after DNA from a previously untested rape kit was fully processed, matching with Trudeau's DNA on a law enforcement database.

The 47-year-old was found dangerous by Judge Gregory White after a 30-minute hearing in Fall River Superior Court on Tuesday, although the judge had previously ordered him held pending his decision on dangerousness.

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According to the D.A.'s office, Judge White on Thursday issued a slip opinion stating that Trudeau is likely to be a danger to the community and should be detained.

The defendant was charged for allegedly attacking and raping a 23-year-old woman who was walking along Coffin Avenue on March 18, 2010 before she was struck in the head and dragged to a secluded area.

Trudeau's DNA was matched and he was charged due to a rape kit testing initiative started by Bristol D.A. Thomas Quinn using federal grant money to fully process previously untested rape kits, the D.A.'s office noted.

The rape kit involved in this case is one of 1,100 from Bristol County that were never tested by a state lab.

“I am very pleased with the court’s ruling in this matter," said Quinn. "This was an important step in the process of protecting the public and hopefully bringing justice to a victim who went through the trauma of being raped and the indignity of having to then submit to a rape kit procedure only to then learn more than a decade later that her rape kit was never fully tested.”

"If this victim’s rape kit had been fully tested, this defendant would have been arrested seven years ago,” he added.

Trudeau is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on June 14.

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