Today, the FBI, with the Fairfax County, Prince William County, Prince George's County, Leesburg, New Haven, and Cranston Police Departments, launched a digital billboard campaign to assist in a serial rape investigation involving 12 sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults between 1997 and 2009 by the same offender. Each of these assaults is linked by DNA.
Digital billboards featuring composite sketches of the offender are now running in Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Virginia, where the attacks and attempts have occurred, as well as in neighboring states—New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Since the start of the FBI's digital billboard partnership, at least 39 cases have been solved as a direct result from tips from the public. "These billboards give each local police department and the FBI an added edge to identifying, locating, and apprehending the subject," said Ronald Hosko, Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division, FBI, Washington Field Office. "The public is the most important tool law enforcement has for solving crime."
Fairfax County Police Department has launched a dedicated website, www.EastCoastRapist.com, which provides composite sketches and additional description of the offender. "We have the DNA linking the offender, but we need someone to recognize and identify him," said John Kelly, detective with the Fairfax County Police Department.
Victims in the assaults have been black, white, and Hispanic females. The offender generally approaches the victims outdoors on foot and threatens them with a weapon; usually a knife or a handgun. In two of the earliest assaults, the offender approached the victims on a bike. The offender sometimes wears a black mask or hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face. After approaching the victim, the offender asks the victim for money, giving the victim the impression that she is being robbed, but does not take anything after the assault is over. The dates and locations of these assaults are:
Date
Location
Date
Location
Feb. 19, 1997
Forestville, MD
May 24, 2001
Leesburg, VA
Aug. 20, 1997
Suitland, MD
Aug. 16, 2001
Temple Hills, MD
July 3, 1998
Temple Hills, MD
Dec. 28, 2001
Alexandria, VA
Jun.19, 1999
Alexandria, VA
Nov. 28, 2006
Cranston, RI
Jan. 13, 2000
Alexandria, VA
Jan. 10, 2007
New Haven, CT
Nov. 20, 2000
Alexandria, VA
Oct. 31, 2009
Woodbridge, VA
Prince George's County Police Department is offering up to a $25,000 reward for information related to this investigation. Law enforcement agencies involved are asking that anyone who may have knowledge of this subject contact the Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS/ 8477.
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