DNA closes violent 2012 Southeast DC rape case

WASHINGTON -

A man serving time for rape in a Maryland prison has been transferred to the District after forensic evidence linked him to another crime.

Julius McBride is accused of following a woman out of a store and raping her at gunpoint in the summer of 2012. It is a case that would likely have gone unsolved had it not been for DNA and a computer that discovered the match.

The Fort Washington man is facing charges in D.C. in part because a judge in Maryland ordered the 25-year-old to give up a sample of his DNA and it was entered into the state's DNA databank.

From there, a computer did the rest of the work and matched evidence taken from the victim.

It was early on a Tuesday morning just before 2 a.m. when the victim walked into the Dollar Plus Food Store on Benning Road for a pack of cigarettes.

According to a court affidavit, the woman noticed another shopper inside and the two briefly spoke. She gave the man a cigarette before leaving the store and walking down Benning Road.

Within seconds, the man came up from behind, pulled a handgun and forced the woman up E Street and into a stairwell where he sexually assaulted her.

The woman immediately reported the crime and told police she had never seen the man before.

At the hospital, with what is called a rape kit, evidence was collected. After being analyzed by the D.C. crime lab, it was entered into D.C.'s DNA databank.

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DNA closes violent 2012 Southeast DC rape case