Photo: Davis County Sheriff’s Department
Ogden, Utah resident Mark Douglas Burns is reported to have confessed to at least 11 rapes across Wyoming and Utah, and is now being linked to at least 1 murder in Wyoming.
Utah investigators were recently able to link DNA evidence in the Wyoming State Crime Lab from rape cases between 1991 and 2001 to the man who worked as a long-haul truck driver.
According to Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 Now, prosecutors have charged Burns with sexually assaulting victims in; Rock Springs and Laramie, Wyoming, as well as Riverdale City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, Clearfield, Utah, and Layton, Utah.
Investigators told Utah media that they believe Burns may not only be a serial rapist, that he may be a serial killer. While the Evanston, Wyoming Police Department has not confirmed it, multiple outlets report they believe Burns will be prosecuted in the murder of 28-year-old Evanston woman, Sue Ellen Gunderson Higgins in 2001. The Evanston PD announced they were “screening charges” against Burns in connection with the case Thursday.
According to Salt Lake City’s KSL, Burns is currently being charged with 8 counts of aggravated sexual assault, six counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated burglary, and one count of aggravated robbery. All charges are first-degree felonies.
Burns was previously charged with one count of rape in 1974 in North Carolina and served time in jail.
More details on this story are available here from KSL or here from Fox 13.