‘Potomac River Rapist,’ who terrorized DC area in 1990s, arrested in South Carolina
WASHINGTON - A suspect who became known as the Potomac River Rapist during a series of sexual assaults in Montgomery County and DC in the 1990s – including a fatal attack – has been arrested in South Carolina.
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Giles Daniel Warrick, 60, was taken into custody in South Carolina and was connected to the crimes via forensic evidence, officials announced on Thursday. DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said Warrick has been charged with first-degree murder among several other charges related to the attacks.
Warrick is accused of brazenly and brutally preying upon women in the DC area in the 1990s. Officials said Warrick murdered 29-year-old Christine Mirzayan, who was a National Academy of Sciences intern, in the summer of 1998 as she was walking home from a cookout in DC.
Warrick is accused of sexually assaulting eight other women, including an 18-year-old babysitter and a mother whose child was in the house at the time of the attack.
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The FBI said seven of the nine attacks, which began in 1991, were linked by DNA, and all of the attacks were linked by Warrick’s similar violent methods.
DC police had offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Potomac River Rapist.