In a first, Edmonton police have used DNA to create a composite sketch of a 2019 sexual assault suspect

An approximate image of a man who in 2019 violently sexually assaulted an Edmonton woman and left her unconscious in a field has been generated from DNA.

An approximate image of a man who in 2019 violently sexually assaulted an Edmonton woman and left her unconscious in a field has been generated from DNA.

Edmonton Police Service has never before used DNA phenotyping to create an image of a suspect.

But in releasing the image of the man on Tuesday, EPS said investigators over three years had not found a DNA match or witnesses, CCTV or public tips that helped.

"I'm left with just sitting there and waiting for this suspect's DNA to show up at another crime scene. Or perhaps this person will get convicted and then DNA is uploaded into the DNA database," Det. Colleen Maynes, the officer in charge of the file, told reporters Tuesday morning.

"I don't want to wait. It was a vicious assault. Random stranger assault. And the survivor deserves justice, as well as the public."

On March 10, 2019, an injured woman wearing only a shirt was found calling for help in north-central Edmonton.

She had been followed and attacked by a man waiting at a bus shelter on the west side of 101 Street north of 117 Avenue.