Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BONUS: Potomac River Rapist CAUGHT!

Episode Date: January 9, 2020

Forensic genealogy leads police to a suspect in more than ten sexual assaults and one murder in Washington and Maryland in the 1990s. Giles Daniel Warrick, 60, was arrested in Conway, South Carolina, on multiple rape charges.Joining Nancy Grace today to discuss: Ashley Willcott: Judge and trial attorney, anchor at Court TV Cloyd Steiger: 36 years with Seattle Police Department, 22-year homicide detective & author of "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer: Gary Gene Grant" Dr. Bethany Marshall: Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills Dr. Michelle Dupre: South Carolina Medical Examiner & author of “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” Levi Page: Investigative reporter CrimeOnline Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. You know, I've prosecuted many, many rape cases, and yes, the rape victim, if she's not murdered, goes on, but you're never the same. Ten women brutally raped, one of them murdered, and that's that we know of. Ten women in all brutally raped, but for years, no answers. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. When he came in, he came in with force at the front of me. And then at some point from there, picked me up and flung me onto my stomach, pulled my shirt over my head, and that's when he tied my hands to my ankles.

He said he was going to kill me. I just had this feeling like if I don't get out of here, he's going to come back and do something else to me. He felt like superwoman. I like ripped the cords, hanging, screaming out of the window, help me, help me. They had footsteps that took him out through the wooded area and that's the last that he was ever seen. The so-called Potomac River rapist who sex assaults at least 10 women, then murders one of them. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. It was Christine Mirzayan, just 29 years old, raped and murdered. Ten women in all brutally raped, but for years, no answers. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. How does someone escape for so long? You were just hearing one of the victims of the Potomac

River rape is speaking to NBC4. Now, take a listen to WUSA 9 reporter Mike Dunstan. Louisa Huban is a walker. I never worried before, but that'll change. Colleen Cavell is a biker. You're on a bike, you're going faster than anybody else. And Karen Mitchell is a jogger. I try to stay where there's a lot of people and cars and stuff. Do you hear about what happened?

Yeah, definitely. My car was blocked in last night because of all the police tape. I couldn't get it out. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Some folks were out here taking a stroll, but they walked into something ugly, a crime scene. About 10 feet from the sidewalk, they found a woman's lifeless body right here in the woods. I think I'll wear my pepper gas a little more visible than I usually do. Anything else?

That's about it. Got to keep going on. When things happen and there's really nothing you can do, you know, you can't be too careful. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to jog anywhere. Living in D.C., I've lived here about five years. It's terrible to say, but these random crimes happen in every neighborhood, and you keep hearing, you know, you never expect to hear. It happens everywhere, in the worst neighborhoods and the best neighborhoods.

You still have to have a life. With me, an all-star panel, Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, court TV anchor at AshleyWilcott.com. Cloyd Steiger, 36-year Seattle PD author, Seattle's forgotten serial killer, Gary Jean Grant at cloydsteiger.com. Renowned psychoanalyst out of Beverly Hills, Dr. Bethany Marshall at drbethanymarshall.com. Noted South Carolina medical examiner, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Dr. Michelle Dupree.

But right now to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Levi Page. Ten women brutally raped, one of them murdered, and that's that we know of, Levi. Where does it all start? Nancy, this man has been described by the FBI as the Potomac River rapist. His modus operandi is a blitz attack. He would sneak up on his victims. He had a knife, sometimes a screwdriver. He would throw blankets or towels over their heads, and then he would rape them. In many instances, this happened in the 90s, he would break into the victim's home while they were not there, and then he would wait hours for them to return. He amassed 10 victims. Some of the victims were raped in their own home. Some were out walking

around or jogging. One woman had an infant in her home, Nancy, when he raped her and most of the attacks happened from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. at night. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst out of L.A., that tells me a lot. Now, I'm a little concerned about the conflicting MOs. Some women are out walking or jogging. Some, he goes in their home and waits for hours. You know, I know you think this is crazy, Dr. Bethany Marshall, but it never failed. When someone was caught just, you know, skulking

around a woman's home or peeping Toms, they go on to much worse crimes. I don't know the psychological reason for that, but I know that it's true because I saw that unfold over 10 years prosecuting. You get a peeping Tom, you can guarantee he's already done another felony or he will because I've just seen it unfold so many times. Many people say it can't be the same person because they've got different M.O.s. That's not true, Dr. Bethany. Dive in. Well, you know, rapists have particular subtypes, but serial rapists have a lot in common with other types of criminals. So the motivation is primarily criminality.

The fact that he was sitting in these women's houses for hours on end shows that he has a prolific fantasy life, that just the act of waiting is very exciting to him. I do believe, as you were saying, that this is a serial killer in the making. As we know, perpetrators often escalate in the nature of their crimes. You know, they do one crime and they become emboldened to do another and another. And I think this type of a serial rapist is actually somebody who uses sadism. I know you always tease me about this, but the MO with serial rapists and serial killers is inflicting harm upon the victim in order to enhance their sexual pleasure. I think the fact that he threw a towel over the victim's head is that he was savvy enough to know that he did not want to be ID'd. He uses a screwdriver. I think that that's the precursor to eventually wanting to use a knife

and to kill and maim in order to enhance his sexual pleasure. So the screwdriver or the knife is to kill or maim strictly to enhance his pleasure. Is that what you're saying absolutely correct because i would have thought it would be to subdue the person but you're saying it's for his own benefit so with serial killers and serial rapists aggression and sex are processed through the same parts of the brain and for sociopathsopaths, they have very low levels of excitement in life unless they're doing something cruel. So somehow for the serial rapists and murderers, sex and cruelty have become fused in their mind. And because sociopaths, psychopaths have a lot of inner emptiness. They have low levels of arousal. The only way they can enhance their sexual arousal is to see fear on the victim's face, to maim the victim, oh, the woman really wants me. This offender wants to see fear on the woman's face. He cannot achieve arousal and ejaculation unless there is some

kind of a fear situation or sadism. This is often why these serial rapists will mutilate the woman's genitals or maim her in other ways. It's because it's exciting to them. Take a listen to this FBI public service announcement. It's important that we find that individual who is still on the loose, so he not only has to be accountable for the crimes he committed, but also can't hurt anyone else. In Christine's case, a witness driving along Canal Road saw a man trailing her as she walked home. Another man walking his dog on a cliff above heard Christine's screams.

Her body was discovered the next day, and her purse was found months later in the Potomac River. Since then, the FBI laboratory has used DNA technology to link Christine's murderer to seven other rapes in Montgomery County, Maryland. We've been working with Montgomery County and the FBI on these cases and sexual assaults. Investigators say the rapes and one attempted rape date back to May 1991 and happened within an eight-mile radius in Maryland. They say the Potomac River rapist has strong ties to the area. They also say the rapist-turned-murderer attacked each of his victims in the same way, inside their homes, often with their children present. He covered their heads with like a pillowcase or another blanket and then would commit his crime.

That is horrifying, the terror put in these women's minds, often with their children there. To Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, Court TV anchor, what leverage does it give the perp to have the child in the home? Because a person is going to protect that child, whether it's a parent, a caretaker, a babysitter, they're going to do, frankly, whatever the perp tells them to do. So if the perp says, be quiet and take all your clothes off, you're going to do it. You're more likely, you're not going to fight back because you don't want the child hurt, bottom line. You know, we saw that, didn't we? Cloyd Steiger with the Golden State killer who was caught through familial

DNA, you know, 20, 30 years after the murders and rapes, he would attack women with children in the home and then use them as leverage to make the woman do what he said. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, that's the, the maternal instinct, you know, you'll die before you let your child get hurt. And so he's counting on that. And, uh, And I don't know if he intentionally planned that in these cases or it just happened to be that way, but that was a big benefit to him to have that go the way he wanted.

And then a break in the case. Listen to WSA 9. I'm Pete Neuschum. I'm the chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department here in D.C. Between 1991 and 1998, a man terrorized our community as he brutally preyed upon and attacked multiple women across this region. Today, joined by law enforcement partners, we collectively are announcing that an arrest has been made of a man who was known as the Potomac River

Rapist. The suspect in this case attacked at least 10 women in and around Washington, D.C. His last known victim in Washington, D.C. was a 29-year-old congressional fellow who was murdered. Forensic evidence linked the man to these crimes and was instrumental in leading detectives to his location in Conway, South Carolina, where he was placed under arrest. Based on the investigation, 60-year-old Giles Daniel Warwick of Conway, South Carolina, was identified as a possible suspect through forensic genealogy. Warwick was arrested in Conway, South Carolina. He will be extradited to the district and charged with first-degree murder. He will also

face additional charges stemming from the multiple sexual assaults that he committed. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, South Carolina medical examiner, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Dr. Dupree, this guy is now being linked to cases back in the 90s. How can DNA be culled, extracted, and then saved for so many years? Well, Nancy, likely it's going to be mitochondrial DNA, which simply means that it's different from the normal DNA that we usually talk about. Mitochondrial DNA lasts a lot longer, but the caveat with that is it can only be tracked back to a maternal relative. But I don't understand, how does it stay viable for so many years, Dr. Dupree? Because this doesn't require tissue.

This is not in the nucleus of cells. This can be in our bone marrow. It can be in other places that would still survive. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the arrest of the Potomac River rapist, and we are learning so much. He's not just a rapist. He is a murderer. What can you tell me, Levi Page, about his last known victim,

29-year-old Christine Merzeon? She was found bludgeoned dead in Georgetown. Question, I don't think this is his only murder victim, but what can you tell me about her? Nancy, she was 29 years old. She was a biochemist. In 1998, she went to a friend's cookout in the Georgetown area of D.C. She'd been sick. She had the flu. And after the cookout, some of her friends were going to go out around town, go dancing. But she just decided not to. She was going to go back to the student housing at Georgetown University. She had an internship. Very, very intelligent young woman. Witnesses told police that they saw a man following her. And that was the last time that anyone seen her alive

before she was brutally murdered she was raped and she was beat to death nancy with a 73 pound rock her body was found in a wooded area alongside the road so she was bludgeoned in with dead with a 73-pound rock. You are correct. I'm taking a look at her photo, Christine Marzian, right now. It's at CrimeOnline.com. And she's just gorgeous. She's got her whole life in front of her. Now I'm looking at the rock, and it's covered in her blood. Ashley Wilcott, it's such a brutal and such an elementary murder to just pick up a rock

that happens to be there and bludgeon someone dead. Well, it's such a brutal way to do it. And there's no empathy. There's no compassion. It's a crime of opportunity. And they pick up and do whatever they can with that rock. But it also, to me, indicates such an extreme amount of rage, hatred, all of the emotions that would allow someone to do that without any remorse. And this girl with everything before her, a biochemist, a congressional fellow walking home from a friend's cookout and murdered. I mean, Levi Page, Georgetown is one of the most desirable areas in D.C.

And the local news there, when this happened in the late 90s, were interviewing people and they didn't expect this to happen there because it is a very sought-after place to live in the D.C. metro area in D.C. You know, it took more recent developments in technology and the advent of public genealogy services to crack this case. Explain how it was cracked, Cloyd Steiger. Well, they recovered DNA. I imagine they had rape kits and things back in the day, and those were frozen and maintained. And then they developed, they tried to, they likely tried to run it in CODIS, which is the National DNA Data Bank, and didn't get a hit.

So what they do then is they have to take raw DNA and reprocess it in what's called SNP or SNAP DNA, which is a different FDR is what's in CODIS, so they're not compatible. And that's what all these genealogy services use. And so they run it through there looking for certain markers, and they score each marker and they have to have like a 30 score or whatever. And they look at those people who are likely distant cousins to get as close as they can. And then they have a genealogist actually start following the family tree until they get down to three or four possibles, and then it's up to the police to go either ask those people for a voluntary sample or surreptitiously get it and compare one-to-one using the STR technology of the DNA that's compatible with CODIS. Dr. Bethany Marshall, do you believe that this is his only murder victim? Why or why not? I do not believe this is his only murder victim because he seems to have all the markings of a serial killer. He puts enormous amount of energy into his activities. He spends hours looking for victims. He seems to have a certain type,

young women who are out jogging, walking, walking home from a cookout like this victim. And one of the things we know about serial killers, Nancy, is that they can pop up and then go underground for months or years and then pop up again randomly. And one of the reasons this happens is that they have prolific fantasy lives. So they can often satisfy themselves with their fantasy lives for years at a time. And then all of a sudden it breaks over into the urge to kill. Also, Nancy, briefly, that rock, a 73-pound rock covered with blood. Usually when you ask me about the MO, the perpetrator, I have all kinds of thoughts.

But all I could think about was this poor woman lying on the ground. Maybe he asked her to lie face down and put the towel over her head and then bludgeoned her. And I cannot imagine what a brutal scene that was. Levi Page, these rapes and murder occurred over years of time. How many years do we know he was at work between the first and the last that we know of victim so nancy this the first victim was in 1991 and the last victim was in 1999 the young woman that was found beat to death with that 73 pound rock so about 10 years i have a strong reason to suspect dna is going to link him to other rapes and murders ashley wilcott with the the DNA evidence stacking up against him, what's the worst that can happen to him for rapes and murders in D.C.? It is going to be life without parole, so

most states allow capital punishment. However, the District of Columbia is one state that specifically does not as of 1972. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend.