Detectives search for ‘DC-area Hotel Rapist' linked to 6 sexual assaults

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(L) Composite Sketch created in 2003 Age-Progressed Composite Sketch -- Courtesy of Montgomery County, (R) Police Department and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department / Parabon Nano Labs

Officials are working to identify a suspect they are calling the "DC-area Hotel Rapist," believed to be responsible for violently raping at least six women in the DC area over a seven-year span.

Investigators say between August 22, 1998, and February 6, 2006, a serial rapist violently assaulted six to nine women, especially hotel housekeepers in DC, Maryland and Virginia. They say six of the attacks have been definitively linked to one person by DNA samples. 

According to officials, they say the assailant would enter hotel rooms inconspicuously and rape housekeepers who were busy cleaning rooms. They say the suspect used a box cutter, a necktie or a cord to threaten and harm his victims in several of the reported incidents.

One case took place on December 1, 2002, in a hotel room at the Hilton on Colesville Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, where officials say they found a box cutter, with the name "Debbie" written on it, used by the suspect in his attack.

Then, in their investigation of a sexual assault on May 11, 2003, in a hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel on 9th Street in Northwest DC, police say they obtained a ring that belonged to the suspect.

Police say they also were able to obtain DNA linked to the suspect from sexual assaults on May 23, 2003, in a hotel room at the Jefferson Hotel on 16th Street in Northwest DC; June 6, 2003, in a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Hotel on Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington, Virginia; and June 9, 2003, in a hotel room at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Golden Triangle Drive in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Having not made an arrest for the case, prosecutors felt they had to make a move because of the District's 15-year statute of limitations.

"DC currently has a 15-year statute of limitations for first-degree sexual abuse, but DC law allows us to indict an unknown offender under the pseudonym of 'John Doe,' when his identity has been established with reasonable certainty by his DNA profile," says Jessie Liu, US Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Since 2003, the man's DNA has been in the national DNA databank known as CODIS but so far, there have been no matches.

The suspect was described by authorities as an African-American male, between 5 feet-7 inches and 5-feet-10-inches tall with a medium to stocky build, brown eyes, black hair, and a medium to dark complexion. 

The FBI has released a composite sketch of the suspect based on a description from a witness to an attack in 2003. A second sketch is age-enhanced and comes from a lab using the rapist's actual DNA.

"I am encouraging you and emboldening you out there to look at these images--look at these items and say I think I might know something about that but I'm not sure. Please call, please text, please provide information," says Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski.

At the time of the assaults, he was believed to be in his 20s to 30s, but now officials said they believe he would be in his late 30s to late 40s.

"This could be a person who has never been arrested. Could very well be," says DC Police Chief Peter Newsham.

In a new indictment from the  U.S. Attorney’s Office in DC, officials were able to obtain the DNA profile of the unknown suspect on charges stemming from the two attacks that took place in the District.

This is the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has ever indicted a "John Doe" DNA profile.

Investigators say they also identified several instances of suspicious activity or assaults at area hotels. Three of the possibly related instances occurred in hotel rooms, including one in Arlington in 1998, one in Takoma Park in 2005 and one in Alexandria in 2006, according to police.

In a joint effort from the FBI and the police departments of DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Greenbelt and Arlington County are offering a combined reward of up to $45,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect.

More information on the suspect and the investigation can be found from the FBI.