River rapist dragged student into woods and bludgeoned her to death with rock

Christine Mirzayan was a highly-regarded biologist (Image: FBI)

America has produced some of the most notorious serial killers and rapists the world has ever known. The grisly list includes the likes of Joseph James DeAngelo – nicknamed the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist.

The former police officer committed at least 50 rapes and 13 murders across California in the 1970s and 1980s. Then there is Ted Bundy – a name that continues to send shivers down the spine today. The prolific killer and rapist confessed to 30 homicides of young women and girls across several states in the 1970s, though the actual number of victims is potentially much higher.

Christine was hit on the head with a 73-pound stone (Image: FBI)

And then there is the Potomac River Rapist, who was active in the Washington D.C metropolitan area from 1991 to 1998.

He is believed to have committed ten sexual assaults and one murder during his reign of terror.

One of the victims of his heinous crimes was Christine Mirzayan, a 29-year-old newlywed, who was found dead in woodlands in the city on August 2, 1998.

Christine – a highly regarded biologist – had spent Saturday with her fellow interns from the National Academy of Sciences - at a barbecue.

After the get-together, she walked home alone through the historic neighbourhood of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

But tragically she never made it back to her digs on the Georgetown University Campus. Investigators say she was dragged into some woods just off the Canal Road, raped and then hit on the head with a 73-pound stone, which killed her.

Giles Daniel Warrick was arrested in connection with the rape and murder (Image: Montgomery County Department of Police.)

One witness told police that he saw a man trailing her as she walked home along Canal Road, while a man walking his dog on a cliff above the woods heard her screams.

Her murder was eventually linked by the FBI using DNA technology to at least seven other rapes in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The sexual assaults all happened within an eight-mile radius in Maryland, leading detectives to conclude the “Potomac River Rapist” had strong ties to the area.

Investigators also revealed that the rapist-turned-murderer attacked each of his victims in the same way - inside their homes, often with their children present.

The FBI launched an appeal for more witnesses to come forward in 2011, offering a reward of up to US$25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Ronald Hosko, a special agent in charge at the Washington Field Office said: “Even the tiniest tip can bring someone to justice in a case like this, we don’t forget the victims, nor are we trying to forget about potential future victims of this subject.”

Eventually a suspect was arrested by investigators in 2019, who used genetic genealogy to make the breakthrough in the case.

Genetic genealogy compares unknown DNA evidence from a crime scene to public genetic databases to identify suspects through their family members who voluntarily uploaded their DNA to those databases.

60-year-old Giles Daniel Warrick was taken into custody on November 13, 2019 and charged with six counts of first-degree rape in Montgomery County.

However, he never stood trial, as he was found dead in his cell in the D.C. Central Detention Facility on November 19,2022.

Officials claimed that Warrick, whose trial was scheduled to begin that month, took his own life.[