A North Branch man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after DNA tests linked him to three unsolved sexual assaults dating back to the 2010s.

Donald Warner, 46, pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct for incidents in 2010, 2011 and 2017 respectively.

In each incident the victims, all young women, were attacked while out walking, with Warner bringing them to the ground before sexually assaulting them. The 2010 incident occurred in Stacy, with the other two happening in Lindstrom.

DNA swabs were taken from each victim, but there was no match until 2023 when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension used the services of genetic genealogy company Othram, which identified Warner as a s

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