DNA evidence was used to identify a suspect.
Rockville, Md (KM) A suspect has been arrested in Montgomery County for a series of cold cases. Marlon Michael Alexander, 39, of Dairymaid Drive in Germantown, was taken into custody on Thursday “for an attempted sexual offense and three, first-degree rapes,” says Police Chief Tom Manger.
During a news conference on Friday, Chief Manger outlined the four incidents where the sexual assault and burglaries occurred:
On August 11, 2007, at approximately 1:00 a..m., the suspect gained entry into the 25-year-old woman’s home located in the 18200 block of Lost Knife Circle in Gaithersburg and threatened the victim that he would shoot her if she did not perform a sexual act. A struggle ensued and the suspect fled from the residence. The suspect’s DNA was recovered in this case.
On June 19, 2010, at approximately 3:20 a.m., the suspect gained entry into the 68-year-old woman’s home located in the 20300 block of Beaconfield Terrace in Germantown. He held an unknown weapon to the victim’s head and raped her. The suspect’s DNA evidence was recovered in this case.
On August 21, 2010, at approximately 4:15 a.m., the suspect forced entry into the 86-year-old woman’s home (Churchill Senior Living Center) located in the 21000 block of Father Hurley Boulevard in Germantown. He was armed with a pair of scissors as he raped the victim. The suspect struck the victim with his hands multiple times before he fled. The suspect’s DNA recovered in this case was identified as belonging to the same suspect responsible for the August 11, 2007, and June 19, 2010 assaults.
On January 5, 2011, at approximately 12:45 a.m., the victim of the June 19, 2010, rape was victimized again in her home (located in the 20300 block of Beaconfield Terrace). The suspect’s DNA left at the scene matched the DNA left at the three other crime scenes.
Manger says DNA evidence was used to help identify Alexander as the suspect. He says DNA samples were collected at each of the crime scenes, and were turned over to a company called Parabon located in Herndon, Virginia. “We had four samples of DNA, and they created a composite of this suspect using the profile that they obtained from the DNA. That composite was released last year to the public and the media,” he said.
Detectives served a search and seizure warrant to obtain a DNA sample from Alexander.. “Yesterday, September 13th, that DNA sample that was provided by Mr. Alexander was submitted to our crime lab for analysis,” says Chief Manger. “We found that that DNA, after it was analyzed, matched the four DNA sample that was left by the suspect in those four cases.”
That same day, police arrested Alexander oat a grocery store in Germantown. He was taken to Montgomery County’s Central Processing Unit where he’s being held without bond. A bond review hearing for Alexander will take place on Monday at District Court in Rockville.
“Detectives believe that it is possible that Mr. Alexander committed additional sexual assaults, and we continue to examine similar unsolved rapes that have occurred in the county,” says Chief Manger.
By Kevin McManus