A man recently arrested for the cold case abduction and rape of a child back in 1989 briefly appeared in Danbury Superior Court Wednesday, where the public defender’s officer was appointed to his case and entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

David Coffey is 53 years old but in custody for what Danbury police said he did over 35 years ago at the age of 17—kidnap and sexually assault an 11-year-old girl. Police said the incident was one of several abductions and rapes that terrified women in the Lake Avenue/Merrimac Street neighborhood in the late 80s. No suspects could be identified based on information and technology at that time, and the cases went cold.

But in November of last year, one of the victims, who’s now in her 40s, asked police to review her case. The request triggered a new effort by the department's Special Victims Unit and the Connecticut State Forensic Laboratory, which led to Coffey's arrest last month.

According to his arrest warrant, the case dates back to April 23, 1989, when the 11-year-old victim was asleep on the couch at home and woke around 3 a.m. to a masked man covering her nose and mouth and another suspect holding a knife to her throat. The victim told police the two suspects carried her out of the house, then forced her at knifepoint into a nearby home that was under construction on Merrimac Street. She was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the masked man while the other suspect held a knife to her head, the warrant said.

The warrant said the pair debated killing the victim as she begged and pleaded for her life, then let her go after threatening to kill her and her mother if she told anyone what happened. She then woke up her parents, who contacted the police.

Police said the victim was taken to the hospital, where she underwent a rape examination. Officers also searched the house under construction and found DNA evidence, according to the warrant.

Following the victim’s November 2023 inquiry, that evidence was re-examined using technology that wasn’t available in 1989. The testing allowed the state lab to determine samples from the crime scene and the victim's rape kit were a match to Coffey’s DNA profile, the warrant said.

Coffey was charged with first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping on Oct. 23. Though he’s accused of sexually assaulting the victim, he’s not charged with that due to the state’s statute of limitations for that crime.

Police haven't identified Coffey's alleged accomplice but put out a sketch at that time of who they were looking for. They re-released that sketch when Coffey was arrested.

Coffey is being held on $750,000 bond and is due back in court Dec. 16. It's unknown whether he will be charged with other abductions from that time period. Police said they continue to investigate and expect to make additional arrests.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. John Basile at 203-797-4668, the Danbury Police Investigative Services Bureau at 203-797-4662 or the anonymous Tips Line at 203-790-TIPS (8477).