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New Willoughby detective goes to social media for help solving old sexual assault case

Posted at 5:58 PM, Apr 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-09 18:28:27-04

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — Willoughby police are hoping a new set of eyes and these pictures might help solve a crime that happened almost nine years ago.

A 23-year-old woman was out with friends in downtown Willoughby on a July night in 2010 when something went terribly wrong.

“We want to put some closure to it,” said Detective Lieutenant Jim Schultz.

Police said the young woman was sexually assaulted after leaving the 1899 Pub very early on the morning of July 18, 2010.

Pictures of two men were taken inside that bar. Now, police are hoping to put names to the faces.

“Throughout the investigation, it is our belief, these two individuals we posted these pictures of might have had some contact with the victim or know some information that could be helpful with this case, “ said Schultz.

The department posted the pictures to their Facebook page in hopes of identifying the men. Schultz said a new detective was recently assigned to the old case.

“The detective I replaced, he left me with several files with cases that he had been working on that were still open. I started looking through them and came across this case. I found some things that I thought we could follow up with including Facebook. I think back then, when the case was originally reported, we didn’t have a Facebook page for the police department,” said Det. Gabe Sleigh.

The department has had success in solving cases in the past with the help of social media, community tips and new technology now that wasn’t available nine years ago.

“I think it helps when you get new eyes and look at it sometimes see something that was overlooked something in the past, “ said Det Greg Knack.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Willoughby Police Department at 440-953-4210