The victim of a 2014 kidnapping and attempted rape in Maplewood heard an admission in court Thursday from her attacker, who eluded investigators until a DNA match last year.
The woman, now 36, sat in a Ramsey County courtroom with her parents as Gregory Alan Trepanier, 56, admitted that he got inside her car as she was leaving a bar, pointed a gun at her and told her to drive to a spot where he intended to sexually assault her.
Trepanier, of Maplewood, was arrested and charged in March 2024 with kidnapping and attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2014.
He pleaded guilty to kidnapping Thursday as part of a deal he reached with the prosecution, which agreed to dismiss the attempted sexual assault charge.
The state also agreed to not pursue charges against Trepanier in two other alleged kidnappings that involved a gun and threats of sexual assault on Feb. 23, 2014. The alleged incidents occurred in North St. Paul and Maplewood.
Gregory Alan Trepanier (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Trepanier remains jailed ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 16.
Under the plea deal, he faces a prison term at the “high end” of state sentencing guidelines, which will be determined through his prior criminal history. It includes stalking and indecent exposure convictions in 2019 stemming from two incidents on one day in August 2018 in White Bear Lake and Vadnais Heights.
DNA collected from inside her car
According to the criminal complaint, the woman, then 25, reported about 2:30 a.m. that she had been kidnapped in the parking lot of the Dog House Bar on Woodlynn Avenue, east of White Bear Avenue and south of Interstate 694.
She told police she went to the bar with friends, and got into her car alone after it closed. When she began backing out of her parking spot, a man wearing a black ski mask with a red stripe, black hooded sweatshirt and blue sweatpants opened her passenger side door and got inside her car.
He pointed a gun at her and told her to drive to a parking lot of a senior-living facility where he said he was going to rape her. He put a gun on his lap and threatened to hurt her if she didn’t comply with his demands. He ordered her to remove her pants, and he removed his own.
He touched himself, and then suddenly said, “Oh (expletive)” and apologized several times, the complaint read. He got out of her vehicle and left on foot.
Detectives were able to gather DNA evidence from inside the car.
At the time, the BCA was unable to connect the DNA evidence to a suspect. However, BCA scientists found a match after running the sample through their database as they routinely do because new DNA profiles are often added to the database. In February 2024, the DNA returned a match to Trepanier, whose DNA had been submitted in a separate case.
That led to a search warrant for another DNA sample from Trepanier. The BCA concluded the match would not occur “more than once among unrelated individuals in the world population.”
Hoping for an arrest
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Trepanier denied being involved in the kidnapping and attempted assault.
The complaint said that for decades Trepanier has lived at a home about a half-mile from the senior living facility where he ordered the woman to park.
In court Thursday, Trepanier, under questioning by his attorney Sarah Prentice-Mott, said he got into the woman’s car with a gun “to commit another sexual felony.”
Prentice-Mott asked him for clarification, whether his intent was to commit first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He affirmed.
Afterward, outside the courtroom, the victim’s parents said she has stayed strong over the years, while hoping for an arrest.
“To see him again is another story,” her mother said, adding her daughter cried at times during the court hearing.
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