CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – The Conway man wanted for murder and nine rapes in the D.C. area requested a transfer on Monday.
Giles Warrick, 60, requested he be sent to D.C. for detention and his arraignment hearing. The federal judge granted his request since his charges are all stemming from that area.
The judge also assigned Warrick a public defender.
Warrick has lived in Conway for about a year, according to police, at an address off Highway 905.
D.C. authorities believe Warrick lived in the D.C. metropolitan area prior to moving to Conway. The nine rapes and murder occurred in the D.C. metropolitan area during the ‘90s when the suspect was dubbed the “Potomac River Rapist.”
Horry County police officials said they will be reviewing any outstanding cases for possible similarities or likenesses to those involving Warrick. It is unknown at this time whether Warrick is connected to any crimes in the area.
Authorities say they identified Warrick through forensic genealogy – from DNA companies that track down family members, the sites that let a user research their ancestry. Police said they were able to make the arrest from matches in those databases of family members.
Montgomery County Police Department Detective Todd Williams said on the FBI’s website that the suspect began stalking, hunting and sexually assaulting women over 20 years ago. Seven of the nine attacks were linked by DNA while all the attacks are linked by similarities in the violent methods.
Victims were attacked in their homes and included an 18-year-old babysitter and a mother whose infant was in the house at the time of the attack, the FBI said.
One of the rapist’s notable victims includes Christine Mirzayan, who was 29 years old in 1998 when she was raped and killed sometime after she began walking home in Washington, DC. The FBI says her killer had previously attacked eight other women from 1991.
Neighbors in Conway said Warrick mostly kept to himself, and that they didn’t see much of him. One neighbor, who didn’t want to go on-camera, said Warrick would sometimes go four-wheeling with the neighbor’s nephew.
