French police have arrested a man dubbed the “forest lurker”, suspected of having committed at least five rapes between 1998 and 2008.
The 62-year-old was arrested in Seine-a-Marne on the outskirts of Paris and faces possible charges of rape by force of arms, kidnapping and detention of liberty, reports a local Arabic daily quoting AFP.
The AFP quoting French judicial sources said the police made several calls to help them identify a person suspected of committing a series of rapes in the vicinity of Paris and in La Rochelle, in the Charente-Maritime region, in the west of the country, using the same method each time.
Chief investigator Philippe Guichard said in 2019, when the police launched a public campaign to identify the suspect, the latter was committing his actions without covering his face, and traces of DNA appeared in each of the cases.
The ages of the victims ranged between 15 and 19 years, and the perpetrator was killing his victims after threatening them with a knife and taking them to forested areas.