Rape case solved 34 years later

Fairfax County Police announced on Nov. 22 the arrest of a man for a rape committed 34 years ago.

George Thomas Jr., 61, of Arlington, was charged with two counts of rape, one count of sodomy, and one count of abduction.

On Aug. 24, 1988, a 22-year-old woman was getting off work at Skyline Mall on Leesburg Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads when she was accosted by two men in a parking garage, said FCPD Major Ed O’Carroll, commander of the Major Crimes, Cyber, and Forensics Bureau, at a press briefing.

The men forced her into her vehicle and made her drive to a secluded, wooded location in Northern Virginia. Both men raped her. Then they forced her to drive to another secluded location where they raped her again.

The victim was able to escape in her car after the second assault.

“This is a horrible, tragic, and profoundly horrifying series of events,” O’Carroll said.

Police collected “an abundant amount of forensic evidence” from the scene, including fingerprints on her 1987 Ford Escort. A composite sketch of one of the rapists was produced and widely distributed. The lead investigator, Detective Dick Cline, and his team followed up on numerous tips, yet no arrests were made.

“As the years passed, the FCPD never forgot about this case,” O’Carroll said. As forensic science advanced, DNA evidence was resubmitted to state and national DNA databanks, but there were no hits.

Then there was a break, he recounted. “An astute FCPD fingerprint examiner matched a fingerprint that was found on the victim’s vehicle to a fingerprint on an unrelated new Alexandria City arrest record.”

Advanced DNA analysis confirmed that the prints belonged to Gregory Alan Thomas and that he was one of the two offenders in the 1988 rape. He was deceased but police found he had an older brother living in Arlington named George Thomas Jr.

Detectives obtained a DNA sample from a discarded cigar belonging to George Thomas, and further DNA testing linked him to the crime. He was 26 at the time of the assault.

Related story: Annandale cold case solved

On Nov. 21, deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service, with the assistance of Metro Transit Police and FCPD, arrested Thomas on a Metro platform in Maryland.

He was taken to the Montgomery County jail, where he is being held without bond. FCPD is working on having him extradited to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

The collection of fingerprints from the victim’s car was crucial in solving the cold case. According to O’Carroll, “Cline collected the best evidence in 1988. Now we’ve been able to connect the dots.” In the years since the crime, there have been advancements in fingerprint technology, allowing positive identifications from blurry prints.

Now retired, Cline appeared at the briefing along with Police Chief Kevin Davis.

To the survivor, O’Carroll said, “I’m sorry you endured this vicious crime so many years ago.” The cold case team “never lost hope.”

The Thomas brothers might have been involved in other cases in Northern Virginia, he said, urging victims to contact the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 8.

“It’s never too late to come forward. … You will be believed,” he said. “These heinous crimes have no statute of limitations.