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A 46-year-old area man was sentenced this week by District Court Judge Catherine Trevino. Donald Edmond Warner, most recently of Lindstrom and North Branch,  will serve over  20 years in prison for first degree, and two attempted, sexual assaults on young women.  

A guilty plea to first degree criminal sexual conduct resulted in an upward sentence departure to 288 months.  In addition two attempted first degree sexual conduct offenses netted 90 to 180 months to be served concurrently (overlapping).  

Authorities said DNA evidence collected from assaults in 2010, 2011 and 2017 were not known to be connected until investigators pursued  processing in a genetic laboratory at the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. 

Lakes Area Police Chief Bill Schlumbohm remarked that the department is proud to have secured a conviction. He said,  “This never would have occurred without the dogged persistence of LAPD Investigator Merchlewitz, Forensic scientist Anderson, Chisago County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota BCA investigators and the prosecutorial team at the Chisago County Attorney’s office. 

“The combined efforts of these individuals and teams brought a serial rapist to justice and it is our hope that (this) provides some long delayed closure to the survivors.” 

The DNA from Warner, identified as a suspect, was collected in 2023 from a cigarette butt that authorities observed Warner toss into a dumpster.  According to court documents Warner had 1999 and 2000 fifth degree criminal sexual conduct convictions.  

BCA profiling using the cigarette led to a search warrant for Warner’s residence and for the suspect himself to provide DNA.  

The persistence by investigators resulted in developing leads resulting in Donald Edmond Warner’s indictment on first degree criminal sexual assault in June 2024.  He entered the guilty pleas in May 2025.    Warner has been held,  with the exception of an ill-fated jail escape interlude in April this year, for which the judge added a separate sentence of 12 months.

The Lakes Area Police Department lead investigator told the Press the 2017 offense struck him as not being a lone incident,  and that the suspect wouldn’t have inflicted the injuries that he did unless there was a prior history. 

”I felt this case was important to get solved,” he stated, “as I believed this couldn’t be the only assault this person committed.” 

He continued explaining how due to limitations in DNA analysis— the DNA in the 2011 and 2017 cases did not link up. There was a break when the team was able to link the DNA to a cold case the county sheriff’s office had worked on which included a full profile.

Merchlewitz said over the years the assaults cast a shadow on town celebrations and resources were dedicated to patrol of events like Karl Oskar Days to ensure nothing like these crimes happened.  “As it turns out Warner targeted women coming home from events...every few months I looked at this case to see if I missed something and persistence paid off.” he concluded.  

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