Police arrest alleged 'Potomac River Rapist' in South Carolina

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Public Safety
Police arrest alleged ‘Potomac River Rapist’ in South Carolina

By Peter Hermann and Dan Morse
November 14, 2019 at 1:49 p.m. EST

A man suspected in a series of sexual attacks in Montgomery County and Georgetown in the 1990s — one of them fatal — has been arrested in South Carolina, according to three law enforcement officials.

Giles Warrick, 60, is implicated in the “Potomac River Rapist” assaults in Maryland and the District, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition they not be named to discuss the case ahead of its official announcement.

The arrest could end one of the areas most notorious cases that has long vexed investigators and frustrated victims and their families. The last known attack occurred in 1998 near the river in Georgetown when a 28-year-old biochemist was beaten to death with a slab of rock.

Warrick was arrested in Horry County, S.C., which includes Myrtle Beach. The county police department did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
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Police would not discuss what led them to the suspect after all these years.

[packman]

1. What led them - DNA, I would believe

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Sounds like it.

Police use forensic genealogy to make arrest in 'Potomac River Rapist' case
By Ralph Ellis and Julia Jones, CNN

Updated 12:39 AM ET, Fri November 15, 2019

(CNN) -- A serial assailant known as the Potomac River Rapist assaulted at least 10 women -- killing one of them -- during the 1990s, police and FBI said.

"The Potomac River Rapist brazenly and brutally preyed upon women in the Washington (DC) area," the FBI said in a 2011 plea for the public's help in the investigation. "Victims were attacked in their homes and included an 18-year-old babysitter and a mother whose infant was in the house at the time of the attack."

Police in the DC metro area pooled resources for three decades looking for a suspect. They made an arrest this week -- another cold case they say was cracked by comparing DNA evidence to genealogy databases.

Giles Daniel Warrick, 60, was taken into custody Wednesday in Conway, South Carolina, where he'd recently moved, authorities said Thursday at a news conference. He'll be extradited from South Carolina to be prosecuted.

Authorities in the Washington area didn't know if Warrick had a lawyer yet. He has not yet entered a plea.
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