NORTH HAVEN — A New Haven man was arrested Tuesday in connection with the sexual assault of his 23-year-old stepdaughter with intellectual disabilities, police said.
Delienne Moncrieft, 49, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and held on a $200,000 bond.
The investigation began in January 2024 when North Haven police received a complaint of a sexual assault after the victim’s mother took her daughter to the hospital for stomach pains and discovered she was pregnant.
The victim experienced a miscarriage about six months into the pregnancy.
North Haven detectives obtained a sample of fetal tissue, which was transported to the state forensic laboratory where technicians isolated the paternal DNA.
The DNA was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) for a match, but no profile was found in the database.
Investigators then worked with the state forensic laboratory to determine if the DNA profile met criteria for forensic genetic genealogy.
Othram Inc., a Texas company specializing in forensic genetic genealogy, compared the paternal DNA profile against those voluntarily submitted to genealogy companies such as “23 and Me” and “Ancestry.com.”
A partial match was identified, allowing investigators to complete a family tree and identify a suspect.
A search warrant for the suspect’s DNA confirmed a match with the paternal DNA from the fetal tissue.
The arrest on April 15 came after a nearly 16-month investigation.
