A 36-year-old man has been charged in connection with a home invasion and rape after DNA allegedly linked him to the 2015 attack, Baltimore County Police said Monday.
Police identified the suspect as Alphonso Dewayne Owens. He is being held without bail in Baltimore City, where he had been in custody on unrelated charges, said police spokesman Cpl. John Wachter.
Court records show Owens was served with an arrest warrant related to the incident in September, but police announced the arrest Monday. Detectives are trying to determine whether Owens may be linked to other assaults, Wachter said.
The assault happened about 2 a.m. March 26, 2015, in the 4000 block of Colchester Road in southwest Baltimore County, police said. A 26-year-old woman was leaving her apartment and as she opened the front door, she saw a man standing there, police said. She screamed, shut the door, and locked it with the dead bolt. But the man forced the door open, entered the apartment and raped the woman, police said.
According to police, the woman underwent a forensic sexual-assault examination, where DNA was collected. When the DNA was entered into the Combined DNA Index System — a law enforcement database — it was matched to Owens, police said.
Wachter said he did not know when, or under what circumstances, Owens' DNA had been previously collected.
Owens is charged with counts including first-degree rape and home invasion in connection with the 2015 case. An attorney for Owens could not be reached for comment.
Police asked anyone with information to call 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
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