GUILTY VA - Aaron Thomas for rape of 3 teen girls, Dale City, 2009

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The Washington Post is reporting this week on a serial rapist who has been connected to at least a dozen attacks along the eastern seaboard of the United States over the last thirteen years.

The man studies women carefully. He watches them leave for work and walk home from the mall, and he notices whether they lock their windows and doors. He knows when they are most vulnerable and when they are home alone with their children. He stalks them in neighborhoods he knows well.

Then he rapes them and vanishes.

He is the East Coast Rapist. And police know so much about this man. They even have his DNA. But when it comes right down to it, he is a frustrating mystery. No one has been able to find him.

His attacks have spanned 13 years, beginning in Prince George's County in the late 1990s, moving into Virginia and then up to New England.

Now he has been back to Northern Virginia.

The suspect's involvement is confirmed in 12 attacks in in Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, and Rhode Island and suspected in at least 5 more. His most recent attack occurred on October 31, 2009, when he forced three trick-or-treating high school girls into a wooded ravine at gunpoint.

Description:
He has a smooth, deep voice. He is black, he smokes and he is right-handed. He is in his early to mid-30s, is fit, stands about 6 feet tall, likes wearing camouflage clothes and black hats, and once had a badly chipped tooth.
After 13 years, police still hunting for the East Coast Rapist
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/03/15/ST2010031501850.html

Map and timeline: Rapist's trail spans four states, 13 years
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...3/16/GR2010031604282.html?sid=ST2010031501850

Blog post: Talks with police, victims, experts help reporters investigate elusive serial rapist
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/around-the-nation/talks-with-police-victims-expe.html

Online chat transcript: East Coast rapist eludes police
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/03/15/DI2010031502097.html

Interactive info page: On the trail of a serial rapist
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-sr...trail-of-a-serial-rapist/?sid=ST2010031501850
 
You know - there's a lot of serial rapists running around...I can hardly keep track of them....I don't understand how they can stay under the radar for a decade or more.

And these stalker types. :eek:

I'll try to keep an eye on this one (and update the thread) while watching for news on the Kansas City Waldo Rapist & the Texas Centex / Twilight Rapist.
 
His time may be up! Thay are trying to use familial DNA to catch this guy.

Police have DNA linking the same man to similar crimes in Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island, but the DNA isn't in any national database.

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert wants to use a technique called "familial DNA," which allows police to check for relatives of the suspect in criminal databases that may lead them to the rapist.


http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=2019225
 
This case has the sleuth in me hooked. I have done a lot of reading on the case and I do have some opinions.

One thing I hate is when you come up with information which makes you think you may have a name of interest, but there background seems almost to perfect.

Here is what I have with my lone POI.
I am not going to give complete specific info but just some general stuff:

From Virginia, worked in PG County from 1997-2003, job was very close to several crime scenes, also very close to RT 95 bridge into VA. There really were not any rapes reported near his address of residence that I could find.

No record of arrest in Maryland, but did have a fairly long list of financial judgements, beginning in 1997 though the early 2000's.


I do not have an exact date but he was in a relationship and was married in the mid 2000's to a woman from Forestville, MD area.

Moved to Connecticut for employment in 2003, and remained employed in Hartford/New Haven through 2006. Lost track of him for a few years but he has also worked in the Providence, RI area in the past 4 years and also travels quite a bit for work.

My guess is that his employment requires a background check so more than likely he has no arrest record/ or DNA requirements.

He is also in his late 30's, black, solid frame, about 200 pounds.
 
I read about this case on another thread. One woman who was raped worked at a fast food restaurant. One day, after the rape, she was working, she heard his voice and looked up to see him being pursued for shop lifting. When he saw her look up at him, he ran away and wasn't caught.

On a Halloween he kidnapped three teenagers, walked them down into a wooded area nearby and started to rape them one at a time. One girl texted her parents and 911 that they were being held and raped and where. LE and the girls Mother were racing toward the scene, but the sirens tipped him off and he got away.

This guy is scary! The theories are that he may be in the sevice or work for the government. I wonder which thread I read about him in? Very interesting information there and the one thing all the victims said is that his voice was VERY distinct and that once they heard it they would never forget it.

Off to look for the thread.
 
The fact that he doesn't discriminate by his victims' age or race perplexes me. Also, he has no qualms with attacking multiple victims. He went to a store where one victim worked and was being followed by security for trying to steal baby clothes. The victim recognized his voice and when she looked up, he saw her and got away. This predator is brazen and arrogant, IMO.

Click around on the above interactive Washington Post link that SunnieRN provided, if you haven't already. It's a great resource....

wm
 
It amazes me that with a composite he still has not been caught. I hope he is captured soon! I wonder how much of a media blitz, posters, command centers etc. they have involved?
 
A year later: police network to solve rapes

DALE CITY, Va -- Despite looking for a year, police aren’t much closer to finding a serial rapist than when the investigation began into an attack on three teenage girls in Dale City last Halloween.

And though police aren’t ready to announce any suspects, the case has been key to creating a communication network between departments and jurisdictions that could help solve this and future crimes.

On Halloween night last year, three girls reported to police that, while walking near Glendale Plaza in the 4300 block of Dale Boulevard, a masked man with a gun forced them into the woods near Pitkin’s Ace Hardware store. After forcing the girls — two 17, one 16 — to the ground, he raped two of them, police said.

Shortly after the investigation started, DNA evidence connected the crime to at least 12 other attacks involving 16 women in four states on the East Coast, dating as far back as 1997 in Forestville, Md.

After that, there has been less progress than the police would like to see.

“There’s really not anything new, which is what’s frustrating about this,” said Steve Tiaskowski, the Prince William detective assigned to the case. “We want to keep awareness about it up. This [Halloween] is a good opportunity to do that.”

Tiaskowski said he’s never seen another case like this one, where the attacker — described in every related incident as a black man of medium build in his 30s or 40s, often wearing a mask or hooded sweatshirt — is obviously concerned with concealing his physical description, but not his DNA. The scope of the attacks — which have occurred in Connecticut and Rhode Island as well as Virginia and Maryland — also makes it unusual that no one has been found.


more here

http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2010/oct/30/year-later-police-network-solve-rapes-ar-618727/
 
I haven't heard much about the East Coast Rapist lately, but there has recently been a string of attacks in Montgomory County Maryland, very close to where some of the attacks took place.


The suspect I had in mind has actually moved back to Maryland so it would fit, but the profile for this suspect is a little different than the ECR.
 
I find it interesting that he is defecating at these crime scenes. I'm not sure I've heard that one before. Wonder what the significance of that is? The one with the mother and 11 yo daughter had semen on the porch as well. He is watching them, masturbating and defecating while peeping on them, then breaking in to rape them...Sick, sick, sick.

Shoplifting baby clothes. Sounds like there is a wife and child involved.
 
What's really scary? I've lived in this area for over 17 years and this is the first I've heard of this serial rapist. Three of the rapes are less than 5 miles from my home: 4.8, 2.7, and 1.8...

I recall the story of the three girls attacked on Halloween, but this is the first I've heard about a "serial" rapist. There should be signs everywhere and I've seen nothing. And I want to know b/c I jog around here... and go out with my kids, bike riding, etc. There are a lot of trails nearby.

I was careful before, but I'll be much more careful now - and on the lookout.
 
Wow, that is terrifying. One never knows where he'll turn up next!

Wish the FBI site would have all of the composite sketches on one page together so people could piece together an overall "look." It might help folks in the region in watching for this guy. He needs to be found and put away FAST!
 
Very happy about this... it was way too close to home for me.

East Coast Rapist suspect arrested in Conn.


NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A man believed to be responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women since 1997 and dubbed the East Coast Rapist has been arrested in Connecticut, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

The suspect, whose name wasn't immediately released, was captured Friday afternoon based on a lead from authorities in Virginia, said U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan, who couldn't provide further details.
.......

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41912647/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
 
Thrilled to see this news.

A suspect was taken into custody Friday in Connecticut after detectives followed a tip from someone who contacted them earlier in the week, authorities confirmed Friday.

Police said they watched the man and picked up a cigarette butt and matched his DNA to DNA found at the crime scenes. The man has family in Clarke County, Va., and elsewhere in the region.

Sources identified the man as Aaron H. Thomas, 39. He grew up in Berryville, Va., attended high school in Prince George's County and now lives in the New Haven, Conn., area, they said.
The Washington Post: East Coast rapist caught in Connecticut, authorities say
Friday, March 4, 2011; 6:14 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030405132.html
 
I just wonder if he had anything to do with the dissapearance of Cindy Song. Taken on Halloween from Pa. in 2001. He did rape 2 women on Halloween and he did move around. I hope LE looks into it.
 
Great news! I look forward to seeing an actual photo of this predator because the composites all look different to me. However, his spree lasted 13 years so I imagine his appearance chaged throughout the years.

Kudos to the LEA's involved in catching this sicko!

wm
 

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