Police: Middle school teacher charged in 2006 murder also linked to sexual assault

A teacher authorities say was linked to a cold case murder through DNA has also been connected to a sexual assault, and investigators now want to know if he may have more victims.

Charles Wright, 56, of Hawthorne, was arrested earlier this year in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Pertina Epps, who was found strangled near a carport in Gardena in 2005.

According to Los Angeles County Lt. Hugo Reynaga, current fingerprint and DNA technology helped detectives identify Wright as the likely suspect in Epps murder. He was arrested in January of this year, but was freed after posting $1 million bail. Shortly after he posted bail in that case, he was linked to another crime – the 2006 sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman in Los Angeles, Reynaga said.

Wright was arrested again at the end of June, as he appeared in court for a hearing in the Epps murder case. He is now being held without bail, and has been charged in both cases.

Both Epps and the woman Wright was accused of sexually assaulting were known prostitutes, and investigators say they believe Wright may have committed other crimes.

"At this point, we have high suspicion that there might be other prostitutes that were victimized by Charles Wright," Reynaga said.

Wright had worked as a middle school teacher for the past 20-odd years, and was still working as a teacher for the Inglewood Unified School District at the time of his arrest, according to Reynaga. Authorities released two images of Wright – one of him in 2005, and a more recent photo in which he has a fuller, graying beard and appears to be bald.

Anyone with information about Wright or believes they might be a victim can call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.