Danbury police arrest suspect in 1989 cold case

Danbury police have arrested a suspect in the abduction of a female victim in 1989.

They are continuing to investigate several similar crimes that happened in the late 1980s and they are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Danbury police said detectives investigated a series of crimes in the late 1980s that alarmed the neighborhood in the area of Lake Avenue/Merrimac Street, including the abduction and rape of female residents, and those cases went cold.

Those cases were reopened in November 2023 when one of the victims contacted the Danbury Police Department Special Victims Unit.

The investigation included more interviews of people who the original investigators identified and resources that were not available in the late 1980s, police said.

With help from the Danbury State’s Attorney and the State Police Forensic Laboratory, police said they identified 53-year-old David V. Coffey, who lived in the area during the late 1980s, as a suspect, and they secured a warrant charging him with kidnapping in the first degree.

Danbury police said they took him into custody on Tuesday and charged him in connection with a 1989 abduction and rape.

He was held on a court-set bond of $750,000.

Danbury police continue to investigate the incidents and said other arrests are pending.

They are asking people who might know something about the incidents to call 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). Anonymous web tips can also be submitted online at https://www.tip411.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=22782.