DENVER – Prosecutors have charged a 50-year-old man with sexually assaulting four women over the past two years – often allegedly taking advantage of them while they were intoxicated and leaving bars in the LoDo area of Denver.
Byron L. Whitehorn, 50, is charged with four counts of sex assault – overcoming victim’s will and four counts of sex assault – victim incapable. All eight counts are class 4 felonies.
According to an affidavit for his arrest, Whitehorn sexually assaulted a Lakewood woman in the early-morning hours of Dec. 15 after the woman tried to go home from the Ginn Mill bar on Larimer Street.
Whitehorn approached the woman as she waited for an Uber ride, took the woman’s phone and canceled the ride. He then took her to his car, which was parked in a nearby parking garage, and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit says.
After allegedly doing so, Whitehorn then drove the woman to her home in Lakewood, put his number in her phone as “Byron” and told her: “Let’s do this again,” according to the affidavit.
The woman reported to friends that she had been sexually assaulted and also reported the assault to police, who noticed a pattern with three other unsolved sexual assaults that were linked to the same person.
The Lakewood woman underwent a sex assault exam, which showed that the man who assaulted her carried the same DNA as the assailant in the other cases, according to the affidavit.
Officers were able to get in touch with Whitehorn because he had given his phone number to the woman. He agreed to provide his DNA through Buccal swabs after denying that he assaulted any women.
The DNA matched that from the other three cases, DPD Crime Lab analysts found, and the victim and several others were able to provide partial descriptions of Whitehorn’s vehicle: a white 2005 Audi A4 sedan with tan seats.
Officers met with the woman earlier this month to show her a photo array, during which she identified Whitehorn as the suspect.
Police then went back through the three other cases to which Whitehorn’s DNA matched.
A Boulder woman who was assaulted in January 2018 after leaving LoDo’s bar positively identified Whitehorn as the suspect in her assault, as did a witness.
A Canadian woman who was assaulted after leaving Jackson’s bar in October 2017 was unable to positively identify Whitehorn through a photo array. And a woman assaulted after leaving LoDo’s in April 2017 was also unable to positively identify Whitehorn in a photo lineup earlier this month.
Court records indicate Whitehorn had a $500,000 bond set in the case and that he has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 26.
Police are asking anyone who thinks they might also have been a victim of Whitehorn's to call 720-913-2000.
