Woman raped in parking lot 28 years ago, Arizona cops say. DNA now identifies suspect
A woman was attacked and raped by a stranger in an Arizona parking lot 28 years ago, deputies said.
DNA recently identified the suspect, leading to the arrest of 52-year-old Gerald Todd Tubbs of Prescott Valley, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said in a Nov. 27 Facebook post.
On Oct. 18, 1995, the then-36-year-old woman returned to Pinon Pines Grill and BBQ in Prescott in a taxi to pick up her car after hanging out with friends, deputies said.
As she opened her car door, a “strong” man she didn’t know, attacked her from behind, threw her to the ground and raped her, deputies said.
The woman told authorities the man was “dark haired, thin, tall and wearing a dark coat that looked like a flight jacket.”
Investigators collected fingerprints and a DNA sample but never made an identification, deputies said.
A detective looking at the case in November 2022 determined the fingerprints couldn’t be used but realized the DNA profile had not been added to the Combined DNA Index System.
The federal database includes convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing people.
A DNA profile was added to the database in July, deputies said, and it matched Tubbs’ profile.
“Luckily his DNA had only recently been added to CODIS after an arrest for felony burglary,” deputies said in the Facebook post. “The timing was serendipitous for the victim and law enforcement but not the suspect.”
Tubbs was arrested and indicted by a grand jury on a charge of sexual assault.
Prescott is about 100 miles north of Phoenix.
This story was originally published November 29, 2023 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Woman raped in parking lot 28 years ago, Arizona cops say. DNA now identifies suspect."
