Renewed Effort to Find Rapist - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information on a man investigators are calling the "Potomac River Rapist." A serial predator who's last known attack was in 1998. Federal and local officials are hoping a wave of publicity will finally lead them to a man who's wicked desires claimed eight rape victims and one murder.

Investigators have known since at least 2004 the 1998 murder of Christine Mirzayan was linked with a series of chilling rapes in Gaithersburg, Rockville, Bethesda, North Potomac and Silver Spring. Detectives have the man's DNA and a composite sketch but years of searching have left them with an unfinished puzzle. Who is this man and why did the attacks stop in 1998?

"It could be that our offender went overseas and could be in a foreign country committing similar acts,"
FBI Special Agent in Charge Ronald Hosko at a Thursday morning news conference. "It could be that our offender is dead however, we still want that lead or clue that will lead us to that country or to that deceased person."

Knowing the man could have moved out of the Washington area and even changed his tactics, officials are using billboards and bus shelters in 14 states in hopes of informing the one person who might know who he is.

"This individual used what we would refer to as a blitz attack," said U.S.Attorney Ron Machen,
"He would often times attack folks in their homes and other places but people could and often do change their M O."

Investigators say the serial predator would lie in wait for his victims, often showing up sweat suits with lettering on them, sometimes he would wear jeans, he was known to break into the homes, sometimes from the second story, he would disable alarms, even cut telephone lines and always worked between the hours of seven pm and eleven pm, police say he was confidant enough to tell his victims that he'd been watching them.

Investigators say his behavior could be chillingly sinister.

"After one of the cases the victim heard him leave the house and as soon as he went outside she just described he let out a scream or a war cry type of thing, not something you run across every day," said Montgomery County Detective Joe Mudano. "And in another one of the cases he hid with a blanket over him making him look almost like a chair".

The rapist's last known crime was the murder of Christine Mirzayan in a wooded area just off canal road near the campus of Georgetown University in 1998. The 28-year-old intern was dragged into the woods, raped and bludgeoned to death with a large rock.

"This Potomac River Rapist has plagued this community long enough, please please come forward, help us out," said Assistant Chief Russell Hamill with the Montgomery County Police.

Christine Mirzayan was the last known victim of the Potomac River Rapist.

Online:

Help Us Catch a Murderer and Serial Rapist -- fbi.gov

The dates and locations of these assaults are: