Prince William County, Va. –– At least 12 rape cases have been linked to the man police call the East Coast Rapist.
One of those cases the suspect is linked to, believed to be the most recent case, happened in Dale City on Halloween night 2009.
Police say Aaron H. Thomas, now 39, approached three female teenagers while they were walking home from a night of trick-or-treating.
Thomas used a gun forced them into a wooded area and then raped two 17-year-old girls while a 16-year-old girl watched helplessly.
The 16-year-old used her phone to summon help, police said. By the time police arrived that night, the suspect had fled the area, said police.
Late last month, police put up billboards with sketches of the suspect and launched a website will details on each of the 17 cases the East Coast Rapist is suspected to have carried out.
Last Monday, a tip came into police from Prince Georges County, Md. – the place where police say Thomas took his first victim in 1997 – identifying Thomas as the suspect, police said.
Thomas, now in Connecticut, was followed by investigators and DNA from a cigarette later matched DNA collected in 12 of the reported rapes, police said.
Thomas was arrested at his home in New Haven, Conn. on Friday.
Police in Prince William County have charged him with two counts of Rape, three counts of abduction, and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, police said Monday at a press conference in Manassas.
According to records, Thomas lived on Bonita Court in Dale City from 2000 to 2007.
DNA evidence has tied Thomas to the following cases, police say:
Feb. 19, 1997 Forestville, MD
Aug. 20, 1997 Suitland, MD
July 3, 1998 Temple Hills, MD
Jun.19, 1999 Alexandria, VA
Jan. 13, 2000 Alexandria, VA
Nov. 20, 2000 Alexandria, VA
May 24, 2001 Leesburg, VA
Aug. 16, 2001 Temple Hills, MD
Dec. 28, 2001 Alexandria, VA
Nov. 28, 2006 Cranston, RI
Jan. 10, 2007 New Haven, CT
Oct. 31, 2009 Woodbridge, VA
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