A Northern Virginia man raped a woman inside her business last week, then attempted to sexually assault a student on a college campus the next day, Fairfax County police said.
Kevin Lopez-Altan, 24, of Annandale showed up at an Annandale business before it opened Wednesday and held a 59-year-old woman captive, police said.
“He made several efforts to get inside,” Chief Kevin Davis said. “They were thwarted by our victim the first couple of occasions, but then he successfully forced his way inside that business and that’s where he spent the next several hours attacking again and again and again.”
The victim eventually escaped and called police. Her attacker was gone by the time police arrived, but he left evidence, including fingerprints.
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Fairfax County detectives developed Lopez-Altan as a suspect and learned they weren't the only ones looking for him.
“Northern Virginia Community College Police Department was working a separate attack on a separate victim from Thursday night,” Fairfax County police Capt. Daniel Spital said. “This victim was a student."
The 20-year-old woman was able to fight off her attacker with help from a passerby, police said.
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A campus police officer previously had contact with the suspect when the officer was a Fairfax County sheriff’s deputy. Tattoos and the unusual way the suspect rubbed his fingers tipped the officer off to his identity.
“Our shared perpetrator is a monstrous 23-year-old man,” Davis said.
Police also knew Lopez-Altan likes to hang out at various shopping centers in Annandale. They found him and arrested him at Heritage Center Friday afternoon.
“We believe he absolutely, positively would have struck again,” Davis said. “We know that from the way he interacted with our detectives; we know that from his demeanor, his disposition.”
Lopez-Altan faces 10 felony charges, including three counts of rape, three counts of forcible sodomy and abduction with intent to defile. He is being held without bond.
Court records show Lopez-Altan has been arrested several times for assaulting police and his family members but the outcomes of those cases was not immediately available.
He has a court hearing scheduled for January 2025 for an assault and battery case involving a family member.
Police worry there may be other victims who haven’t reported Lopez-Altan.
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