NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Connecticut man believed to be responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women in several states since 1997 and dubbed the East Coast Rapist has been arrested, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was captured Friday afternoon based on a lead from authorities in Virginia, U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan said.
U.S. marshals detained the man in New Haven, one of New England's biggest cities, and he was being held by police for questioning, police spokesman Officer Joseph Avery said. No charges had been filed against the man, who has a New Haven address and is about 40 years old, he said.
"We're still working the case," Avery said. "At this point we're trying to put everything together, and there's been no formal charges at this time."
The East Coast Rapist eluded authorities for years despite committing a string of high-risk outdoor attacks, law enforcement officials say.
In a recent effort to generate new leads in the case, authorities posted sketches of the suspect on electronic billboards in states where attacks occurred -- Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island -- and in neighboring states.
Police also set up a website about the case at eastcoastrapist.com. Detective John Kelly in Fairfax County, Va., said the website generated 44,000 hits in 12 hours after it was launched late last month.
The attacker wore a mask or hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face in some attacks, investigators say. He typically approached women outdoors on foot and threatened them with a knife, screwdriver or a handgun, they say.
The last known attack occurred on Halloween night in 2009, when two teenagers on their way home from trick-or-treating in Woodbridge, Va., were raped, authorities say.
The cases have been linked by DNA. Investigators say they have cleared more than 700 suspects.
The FBI began a national digital billboard campaign to solve crimes in 2007. Since then, authorities say, at least 39 cases have been solved as a result of tips from the public.
Those cases include the identification of a serial bank robbery suspect within 24 hours after billboards went up in several southern states and the arrest of a man dubbed the Granddad Bandit a week after authorities received a tip from someone who saw a billboard.
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