A 32-year-old man charged in the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl on Wednesday was one of the prime suspects in the murder of a Toronto teen nine years ago, CTV News has learned.

Stanley James Tippett is set to appear in a Peterborough court on Thursday. He was arrested after residents heard a young girl screaming for help behind an Oshawa-area high school.

Durham police said the victim had just left a birthday party in Peterborough when she went missing at about 1:30 a.m. At 2:20 a.m., officers rushed to Courtice Secondary School, just east of Oshawa, after receiving reports of screams coming from behind the building.

When police arrived at the school, a red van was seen fleeing the scene. Officers chased the vehicle but abandoned the pursuit because of safety reasons.

The van was later found abandoned in Oshawa, near Highway 401 and Harmony Road. Police dogs scoured the area for clues but to no avail.

When police returned to examine the scene behind Courtice, they found the girl suffering from an apparent sexual assault. She was taken to Lakeridge Health-Oshawa hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The girl is under "great distress," an officer told CTV Toronto.

Authorities say the girl and several of her friends left a party and were on the street when they came into contact with a red van. Investigators are still trying to confirm the details but they say the girl ended up inside the van. The other young women did not get into the van and were found unharmed in the Peterborough area.

Police announced they had arrested a suspect on Wednesday afternoon.

Tippett's past

While Durham police said the accused is known to them, the force refused to elaborate. However, CTV News has learned the accused was a suspect in the murder of 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel, who went missing in June 1999 after leaving her Don Mills Road apartment in North York.

Sharmini was on her way to the first day of her new job with a telemarketing company -- that police later determined didn't exist -- when she disappeared. Her skeletal remains were found in a North York ravine four months later.

In an interview with the Toronto Star, Tippett said police considered him a suspect in Sharmini's death, and that investigators had searched his home and car.

Tippett, who denied any involvement in the girl's disappearance, said he knew Sharmini and had helped her get a job. He also said he had driven her and other children to a swimming pool in the past.

Tippett, a married father of five, moved to an Oshawa apartment two weeks before Sharmini vanished.

No charges were ever laid in the death.

In December 2005, Tippett was sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary on top of 65 days spent in pretrial custody, the Star reported.

Tippett was convicted of criminal harassment and breach of a court order. Police alleged he tried to kidnap a 21-year-old Peterborough woman with a phony job offer at the local YMCA, but police learned he didn't work there.

At the time of his arrest, Tippett was on probation after pleading guilty to the criminal harassment of his 25-year-old neighbour in Barrie, the Star reported.

Tippett's wife was at their Peterborough home on Wednesday, but refused to comment to CTV News.

With reports from CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson, John Musselman and Paul Bliss