(Updated) Through a new website and billboards up and down the East Coast, police and the FBI are hoping to find a man linked to 12 sexual assaults over 12 years, including a 2007 case in New Haven.
That news came in a Monday press release issued jointly by the FBI and five different police departments in Maryland, Virginia, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Those are states in which police are investigating a string of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2009. The assaults have been linked together by DNA as the crimes of a single offender.
Investigators are using billboards to help find the perpetrator. Composite sketches of the subject now appear on digital billboards along highways in Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Delaware. The only billboard in Connecticut is along Interstate 91, near Exit 7, New Haven Police Lt. Julie Johnson said at a press conference Monday.
Police in Fairfax County, Va., have created a website, www.eastcoastrapist.com, to help find the suspect.
“We have the DNA linking the offender, but we need someone to recognize and identify him,” said Fairfax Detective John Kelly in the release.
Gwyneth K. Shaw Photo
Johnson, pictured, said police are hoping the new campaign — especially the billboards — will spark a memory of recognition in someone who will then come forward to help.
“We’re really just looking for any information,” she said.
The suspect, she said, could be someone who has traveled to the states involved, or maybe has relatives in these communities.
The release described the suspect’s method of operation:
“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 New Haven sexual assault happened on Jan. 10, 2007, according to police. Johnson said that case involved the suspect coming into the sleeping victim’s bedroom through an open window on Smith Avenue. While the campaign warns of an “armed and dangerous” suspect, Johnson said there was no weapon involved in the New Haven case.
The local victim did not participate in putting together the composite sketches of the suspect, Johnson said, although New Haven police remain in contact with her.
Johnson said there’s no reason to think the suspect is anywhere in Connecticut. Other rapes in New Haven, including a string of related assaults in the Newhallville neighborhood, remain under investigation. But they’re not linked by DNA evidence to the East Coast Rapist, she said.
Police in Prince George’s County are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information related to the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call 1 – 866-411‑8477.
From Savior To Victim?
At 9:23 p.m. on Sunday, a Norton Street man broke up a mugging. At 11:46 p.m. he was stabbed inside his house. That’s according to police spokesman Officer Joe Avery.
The man is recovering from non-life-threatening wounds.
Here’s what Avery said happened:
At 9:23 p.m. on Sunday, a man who lives at 66 Norton St. told police that he had intervened in the attempted robbery of a woman. He told cops that two men showed a handgun and then fled to the rear of 323 Winthrop Ave. The would be mugging victim couldn’t be located.
Just over two hours later, at 11:46 p.m., the man was stabbed inside his house at 66 Norton St. He told cops two men did it. He received superficial wounds to his arms and legs.
In other police news, according to Officer Avery:
A man told cops he was assaulted by a man with a hammer at 230 Chatham St. at 2 a.m. on Sunday. He received a non-life-threatening laceration over his eye.
At 7:54 p.m. on Sunday, two men were struck on the head by an unknown weapon inside the Scorpio lounge. They were treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
A man told police that he was robbed by six men with a gun at 19 Elm St. at 4:17 p.m. on Sunday. The muggers went through his pockets and took his iPod.
New Haveners Sentenced For Crack
Two New Haven men were sentenced to five and seven years in federal prison for selling crack. That news came in Friday and Monday announcements from the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office.
Marvin Conner, 32 of Carlisle Street, was sentenced to 60 months in prison on Friday, followed by five years of supervised release. According to court statements and documents, Conner sold a total of 39 grams of crack over three separate occasions in July and August 2010.
James Person, formerly of Goffe St., was sentenced on Monday to 83 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release. According to court statements and documents, Person conspired with another man to sell crack near Winter and Goffe Streets.