Suspect arraigned in 16-year-old case

TORONTO, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A Toronto court Thursday arraigned a man on three first-degree murder charges in the cases of prostitute killings that were cold for as long as 16 years.

Peter Dale MacDonald, 52, appeared in court Thursday for the strangulation of Julieanne Middleton, 23, Virginia Coote, 33, and Darlene MacNeill, 35, all of whom were prostitutes in Parkdale, hooked on crack cocaine and found in shallow water within a mile of each other from 1994 to 1997, the Toronto Sun reported.

Police said all the women had been raped before being killed.

After another hooker was attacked 12 years ago, but survived, detectives released a sketch of a possible suspect showing a white, 35-year-old male with long blond hair.

MacDonald's name "surfaced in 1994," but despite intense investigations by the original police team and by a new crop of cold-case detectives, enough new evidence didn't come until about six months ago, Detective Sgt. Steve Ryan said.

"We put tremendous resources into the case. The cold case squad has arrested a serial killer," said Staff Inspector Mark Saunders, head of the homicide squad.