Suspected Potomac River Rapist Arrested After 29 Years: Police

GEORGETOWN, DC — After nearly 30 years on the run, the Potomac River Rapist has been arrested, according to authorities.

During a press conference on Thursday, D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham announced that Giles Daniel Warrick, 60, was arrested by police in South Carolina. Warrick is accused of murdering an intern and raping multiple other women in D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, between 1991 and 1998.

Newsham said DNA evidence linked Warrick to the attacks. According to booking records, Warrick was arrested on Tuesday and is currently being held in a Horry County, South Carolina, prison.

Warrick's arrest possibly signals the end to a decades-old cold case that has baffled investigators and terrorized the D.C. metro area. A task force — consisting of the Montgomery County Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. — was created to catch the murderer and serial rapist.

Most of the attacks were similar in nature.

"The rapist used a blitz attack, surprising his victims with force — sometimes wielding a knife or screwdriver — and throwing a blanket or towel over their heads," said Capt. David Gillespie of the Montgomery County Police Department. "He often stalked his targets, breaking into their homes and waiting, sometimes for hours, for them to come home."

Eight of those nine attacks occurred in Montgomery County. The last known attack, which took place in Georgetown on Aug. 1, 1998, was a murder. Christine Mirzayan, a 29-year-old intern, was attacked and murdered in the 3600 block of Canal Rd. while walking to her home.

"I can't begin to imagine what the families have suffered over these 29 years — the Mirzayan family, all of the victims of this person's sexual assaults," Newsham said Thursday.

Joining him at the press conference were multiple law enforcement officials, including Marcus Jones — Montgomery County's new police chief.

"When you get to the place (where) you've been investigating the case literally for almost 30 years...and then you have a really good lead that then takes you to a place (where) you really start to feel that you have the person that's responsible for that, and then to be able to collect that DNA and have that match, it just brings great closure," Jones said.