Twin Cities man charged with targeting homeless women in sexual assaults is tied to unsolved cases

For more than a decade, Twin Cities police and prosecutors have tried to convict on sexual assault charges a Brooklyn Center man believed to have targeted homeless women by offering them a place to stay.

Charges filed Monday in Hennepin County claim that new DNA evidence links Corey Harwell, 54, to three sexual assaults from 2023, 2017 and 2016.

Harwell is now charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an assault that occurred in July 2023. According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police arrived at an apartment after a woman called 911 claiming to have been sexually assaulted by Harwell, who was holding a butter knife. The woman was hiding in a bathroom. She said she had been sleeping on a park bench at Cub Foods in south Minneapolis when Harwell approached her and offered her a place to stay.

After falling asleep at the apartment, the the woman woke up to Harwell assaulting her. Police at the scene took down a description of the suspect, and the apartment manager said they had an ongoing issue with a tenant bringing homeless women into the apartment for sexual activity, according to the complaint.

The case was ultimately dropped because the victim told prosecutors she was not in a good place to provide a statement and stopped returning phone calls.

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension used DNA testing to link the 2023 sexual assault to two unsolved criminal sexual assault cases. The case was passed on to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, whose sexual assault kit initiative team connected the cases to Harwell.

In April, investigators met with the victim from the 2023 assault to update her on the case. She recalled the exact details she had shared with investigators before and positively identified Harwell from a photo lineup.

Police arrested Harwell at the scene; his victim identified him and said she was staying at his home that night because she was homeless. After falling asleep, she said she woke up to Harwell raping her. When she attempted to leave, Harwell beat her, according to the complaint. At the time of that investigation, police learned Harwell was being investigated for a separate assault.

That case was also dismissed shortly before trial because a witness was not available to testify.

In 2011, Harwell was charged with third-degree sexual assault after he tried to rape a woman in an alley off Lake Street after asking her if she “wanted to make some money,” according to the criminal complaint. The victim told police that she went to meet Harwell but did not agree to have sex with him. She alleged that Harwell told her, “Pull your pants down and you won’t get hurt.” A neighbor heard the woman screaming and yelled at Harwell, who then rode off on his bike.

That case went to trial, but it

resulted in a mistrial after a juror said she may have been a victim of an unreported sexual assault and that it was a “pivotal point in changing her verdict.”