Houston police have announced the arrest of a serial rapist, closing in on a case that had gone unsolved for decades. At a news conference held alongside federal and state authorities, officials identified the suspect as Phillip Cerf.
The charges span nearly two decades of attacks in the same part of the city. Officials say that between 1997 and 2016, four sexual assaults occurred in North Houston.
Investigators described a consistent pattern across the cases. In each, the suspect offered the survivor a ride and then drove her to another location, where she was sexually and physically assaulted.
Police laid out the timeline of the four known incidents: one on June 29, 1997, a second on April 29, 2009 near Prairie View Street, a third on June 22, 2013, and a fourth on July 3, 2016, when a survivor was approached while walking home from a gas station.
The evidence that would eventually crack the cases was gathered at the time and set aside. In all four cases, DNA evidence was collected, preserved, and entered into the CODIS system, even though the offender was not identified back then.
The breakthrough came through a coordinated forensic review. Texas Department of Public Safety Rangers, through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, conducted a comprehensive review of CODIS offender hits and found that the four investigations shared the same unknown DNA profile, and by comparing reports, forensic evidence and witness statements across the cases, they were led to the suspect.
Authorities fear the four charged cases may not be the full picture. Since the charge, investigators have already been contacted by a possible victim from 1988, and they say the suspect may have driven trucks throughout the United States, which is why they are urging the information be shared widely to reach any other possible victims.
The case drew in federal help built specifically for cold cases. The FBI's Houston-based investigative genetic genealogy team, which works cold-case sexual assaults and homicides after other leads are exhausted, supported the investigation, using publicly accessible genealogy services to identify potential family members and, ultimately, the suspect.