Charges: DNA links man to 2003 sexual assault in St. Paul

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

Nearly 20 years have passed since a woman reported a friend sexually assaulted her inside her truck on St. Paul’s West Side.

Now, Ramsey County prosecutors say DNA collected from a sexual assault exam in 2003 matches that of the man whom she accused — and that he’s been charged.

Shawn Phillips Skie, 48, of St. Paul, faces first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the December 2003 assault after charges say his DNA came back this year as a hit through a statewide initiative to analyze a backlog of untested sexual assault kits.

“This offender’s actions took a permanent toll on the victim’s spirit and future,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a Monday statement. “The determination and partnership of the St. Paul police investigators, the BCA lab and the dedicated sexual assault prosecutor in our office made this outcome possible.”

A complaint warrant was issued for Skie on Wednesday and he was arrested Saturday at a Little Canada bar along Rice Street, according to jail records. He made his first court appearance Monday and was being held on $80,000 bail ahead of his next court hearing on Nov. 2. He was granted a public defender, who could not be reached Monday for comment.

Met for drinks

According to the complaint, filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court:

Police responded to a St. Paul hospital around 9:30 p.m. Dec. 29, 2003, and met with the woman, who said she believed she was sexually assaulted by Skie in the early morning hours that day in the 100 block of Cesar Chavez Street.

She told police she met Skie, who was a longtime friend, at a bar on Stryker and Dodd avenues after he invited her out because he was moving to California to be with family. She said she had two drinks over a three-hour period. After the second drink, she began to feel lightheaded and disoriented.

She said she did not remember leaving the bar, but had “vague recollections” of being inside her truck with Skie afterward. She recalled that Skie was smoking marijuana and blowing the smoke into her mouth. She told him to stop, but he did not. Skie then pulled down her pants, reclined her driver’s seat and sexually assaulted her, she told police.

She called a friend, who found her “rambling incoherently” with her urine‐soaked pants pulled down and her shoes off. Her purse, which included $2,000 cash, was missing.

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A sexual assault examination revealed bruising on her body. Forensic samples were taken and given to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for analysis. In December 2004, police learned that semen was identified on swabs. Skie was believed to be living in California at that time. His address was unknown.

The woman told police in a follow-up interview in December 2004 that Skie had contacted her about the sexual assault and theft reports approximately six times over the past year through blocked numbers. He also threatened her and her boyfriend. Police issued a pickup-and-hold warrant for Skie, who was thought to be in Minnesota, however, he was not located before it expired.

“Due to the inability to contact various witnesses and locate (Skie), the case was pended on Feb. 10, 2005,” the complaint says.

‘Ruined her life’

This August, the BCA notified investigators that DNA profiles from the 2003 swabs showed a mixture originating from the woman and an unidentified male. The unidentified major male profile obtained from the sperm cell fraction was entered into state and national DNA databases to be periodically searched against known profiles. A hit from the state database identified the profile as belonging to Skie.

Police notified the woman of the DNA match and she said she wanted to proceed with charges against Skie “as the incident has ruined her life,” the complaint says.

“(She) still vividly remembers hearing the sound of her car seat moving,” the complaint says, “and feeling like she was ‘waking up from surgery’ and ‘not being in control of my mind and my body.’ ”

Skie has had “multiple dealings with police throughout the almost 20-year period that this case went unsolved,” the complaint says.

“He is considered a high risk to public safety based not only on the facts of this case but also based on reports of victims in two other cases that are highly similar to this matter,” the complaint says, without elaborating.

Minnesota court records show Skie’s criminal history dates back to 1997.

Between 1997 and February 2003, Skie was convicted of disorderly conduct three times and once each for fifth-degree assault, domestic assault and felony burglary. Between 2005 and 2007, he was convicted of disorderly conduct, felony DWI and issuing a dishonored check. In 2013, he was convicted of misdemeanor theft and disorderly conduct.

Backlog reduced

Choi said Monday the Ramsey County attorney’s office has “systematically addressed” the backlog of sexual assault kits, along with its law enforcement partners, since 2012. That work included the 2020 plan to centralize storage of the kits and prioritize a review of them by the BCA. The current backlog sits at less than 30 for Ramsey County cases, Choi said.

In July, the BCA said it has finished testing thousands of unprocessed sexual assault examination kits submitted by local law enforcement agencies.

Amid a national controversy over the issue, the BCA in 2015 asked local law enforcement agencies for any untested kits. More than 2,300 were submitted for testing. The agencies cited various reasons for the unsubmitted kits, such as insufficient evidence, conflicting statements to investigators and dismissed charges.

Of the processed kits, 357 DNA profiles extracted from the kits matched someone who was listed in the state’s convicted sex offender database. About 130 of those were people not previously identified in sexual assault cases.

The BCA said it was working to improve turnaround time for kit testing. As a result, the agency anticipates a 90-day turnaround time on testing sexual assault kits by this fall.

“The BCA continues to look for ways to provide improved processes for victim survivors, local law enforcement agencies and in our own laboratories so that we can best serve victim survivors and the agencies investigating the incidents,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in July. “These projects and steps illustrate our commitment to that continual improvement.”

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