UPDATE: Police Arrest East Coast Serial Rapist

UPDATE: March 4, 5 p.m.

Media outlets have reported that the man known as the East Coast Rapist was found in Connecticut this afternoon.

The Hartford Courant reported that the man accused of assaulting or attempting to assault 12 women is being held in New Haven.

This story will be updated as new information becomes available.

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Police and FBI hope their new digital billboard strategy will lead to the arrest of a serial rapist.

Fairfax County police have joined forces with the FBI and other local police departments to launch this new information campaign. 

“We have the DNA linking the offender, but we need someone to recognize and identify him,” said John Kelly, detective with the Fairfax County Police Department, in a press release. 

Their investigation involves 12 sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults between 1997 and 2009 by the same offender, linked by DNA evidence. All crimes were committed in East Coast states, including Virginia.

The Virginia incidents occurred in Dale City, Alexandria and Leesburg at various points in 2000, 2001 and 2009.

Digital billboards are running in Virginia, as well as Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Delaware where the other nine incidents occurred.

In the Dale City incident on Oct. 31, 2009, a man approached three girls on their way home from a night of trick-or-treating. Police reports from the incident state that the suspect raped two of the girls and assaulted the other. One of the victims, a 16-year-old girl, used her cell phone to text her mother and call for help during the attack. The suspect fled after police closed in.

Victims in the assaults have been black, white and Hispanic females. Police said the suspect approaches the victims outdoors and on foot. He then threatens them with a weapon, usually a knife or handgun. In two of the earliest assaults, the offender approached the victims on a bike.

Police say 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.

Check out www.EastCoastRapist.com to see composites and read an additional description of the offender. 

If you have information pertaining to this crime, please call the Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS/ 8477.