San Antonio Police last night arrested an 18 year old man who just graduated from high school two weeks ago, and charged him with being the Medical Center Rapist, who has terrorized women in the Medical Center area for two years, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In a late night news conference, Police Chief Bill McManus said Anton Jamail Harris is facing one count of aggravated sexual assault, with more charges pending.
He says Harris has been positively tied by DNA evidence to five sexual assaults and one attempted sexual assault, all in the Medical Center, dating back to June of 2015.
McManus says Harris used the same tactic in all of his assaults. He would attempt to blend into the area by jogging or walking down the street, while all the while looking for women who were alone, and walking into their apartments.
"When he would spot somebody he was interested in, he would follow them, and when they got to their apartment door, he would either follow them in, or knock on the door hoping they would open it," he said.
Harris was armed with a knife or a gun during all the incidents, which he would use to silence the victim during the assault.
McManus says Harris was arrested last night walking out of North Star Mall, but he says the probe involved hundreds of hours of detective work. He says the leads started with the one woman who managed to fight off Harris, and got some of his skin under her fingernails during the scuffle.
Detectives then used victim statements to put together a sketch of the suspect.
"The suspect was identified as a person of interest by two patrol officers," McManus said. "He was stopped, and they were able to obtain his DNA from a drink that he had that he discarded." That DNA was then linked to all six victims.McManus says the DNA has been positively matched to the victims.
He says officers are confident that Harris is the only suspect.
He says he knows people who live in the Medical Center have been frustrated that the attacks have gone on too long. He says it has been a tough case to crack.
"Being spread over such a wide area, with so many potential targets, it took us a long time to develop that probable cause," he said. "But I assure you, it was not through lack of trying."
IMAGE' SAN ANTONIO POLICE