Investigators in Virginia have solved a sexual assault that occurred more than two decades ago. In August of 1998, a 32-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the 7200 block of Parkwood Court in the West Falls Church section of Fairfax County. The suspect posed as an exterminator and threatened the victim with a gun while forcing his way into her home. The victim ultimately escaped by jumping two stories from a balcony.
DNA and fingerprints were collected from the scene. Detectives entered them into nationwide databases but the identity of the offender remained unknown.
Cold Case detectives continued to pursue leads and in early 2019, resubmitted the suspect’s DNA and fingerprints hoping that newly emerged technology would reveal the suspect’s identity. Several months later, detectives received a fingerprint hit for Juan Johnson, from Maryland.
Detectives learned that Johnson died in 2014 at the age of 48 but a blood sample remained on file in Baltimore, Maryland, from an autopsy conducted upon his death. The Virginia Department of Forensic Science examined the blood and matched it to Johnson’s DNA collected from the scene.
