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It was Suffolk County Police Det. Tom Corso who made the connection that in both the October 2021 case in New York and the Aug. 26 case in Herndon, the assailant was wearing just a tank top when he approached his jogging victims from behind and tried to sexually assault them, FOX5 reports.
Sure enough, Juan Rodriguez Alfaro was ultimately identified as the suspect in both incidents, the outlet said. Corso was in Virginia as the W&OD Trail investigation was under way, and was talking to a deputy marshal when he had his a-ha moment, he told FOX5.
Herndon police were first made aware of the case involving a man later identified as Juan Rodriguez Alfaro, when a woman said a man wearing just a tank top grabbed her from behind on the W&OD trail and then fled on Aug. 26, Fairfax County police said.
Rodriguez was arrested in early September by US Marshals agents on a warrant on charges of attempted rape and sex abuse for the Long Island incident, authorities said. Local police, however, hadn't yet concluded he was the assailant in the local cases, Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard said.
The case first came across Herndon PD's desk in late August, when a jogger said she had been approached and grabbed on the W&OD Trial. Another key piece of evidence came in after Rodriguez's arrest, from a victim who had not previously reported the incident.
That information helped police identity Rodriguez as the suspect in the Fairfax County cases. Warrants were issued for Rodriguez's arrest in the W&OD Trail cases by both Herndon and Fairfax County police on Sept. 10.
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