Suspect in Va. rapes tied to other attacks

MANASSAS, Va., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The unidentified man who raped two teenage girls in Prince William County, Va., is also responsible for 13 other sexual assaults, investigators said.

The Washington Post reported Thursday the suspect's DNA recovered from the Halloween attacks in Prince William County match DNA found at 13 additional crime scenes in Virginia, Maryland and Rhode Island.

Police said the individual confronted three teenage girls on Halloween night as they were headed home from trick-or-treating. The man, who was wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, then raped two girls, ages 16 and 17, before fleeing.

Investigators said the individual was linked to four sexual assaults in Fairfax County, Va., seven sexual assaults in Prince George's County, Md., and an attack in Leesburg, Va.

The suspect has also been tied to a sexual assault of a woman in Connecticut and is suspected of peeping through a glass door of a home in Rhode Island.

Fairfax County Police Chief David M. Rohrer told the Post the Halloween attacks were the suspect's first attacks in nearly three years.

"This violent offender is now back," Rohrer said. "We are asking the public to think and look at people they know, whether it is a loved one, a friend, a family member."