Man pleads guilty to attacks in Duke Hospital bathroom, on Durham trail

A Durham man will spend at least 16 years in prison for two sexual assaults that occurred six years ago, authorities said Monday.

Emanuel Burch, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual offense, assault by strangulation and sexual battery and was sentenced to up to 24¼ years in prison.

A woman was attacked from behind and choked into unconsciousness in a bathroom in Duke University Hospital on Sept. 20, 2015. Two months later, a woman walking on the Ellerbee Creek Trail in Durham was attacked from behind and choked into unconsciousness. She was then sexually assaulted.

DNA from the Ellerbee Creek Trail attack was linked to Burch two years ago. Because of the similarity in the attacks, investigators also tested DNA from the Duke Hospital attack, where the woman managed to scratch her attacker, and that also linked back to Burch.