A man is now in custody after Fairfax County, Virginia, police say he brutally sexually assaulted a business owner while holding her captive for several hours last Wednesday and then attacked a college student a day later.
Kevin Lopez Altan, 24, of Annandale, is facing 12 violent felony offenses, including rape, attempted rape, abduction and strangulation. Police said a 59-year-old female business owner was sexually assaulted as well as a 20-year-old female college student at Northern Virginia Community College.
“He is evil personified,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Monday at a news conference.
Lopez Altan is accused of attacking the 59-year-old woman after forcing his way into her business in Annandale at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 20, said Capt. Daniel Spital with Fairfax police.
Lopez Altan knocked on the door and repeatedly tried to enter and then forced his way inside, police said.
The woman was held captive inside her own business for as long as eight hours, Davis said.
“Throughout this nightmare, the suspect sexually assaulted the victim repeatedly and threatened to kill her if she didn’t do exactly what he told her to do,” Spital said.
Eventually, police said she was able to escape to a nearby business to call for help. Officers were able to collect fingerprints and other evidence from the scene.
Police are not giving out details about the business in order to avoid indirectly identifying the woman who was attacked, Spital said.
“She’s traumatized,” Davis said. “She’s a very brave woman to come forward to take advantage of an opportunity to escape, but she was the victim of an attack that nobody should ever have to endure.”
NOVA community college student attacked after business owner
While Fairfax County police were investigating the assault at the business, Davis said they learned of a separate attack on a Northern Virginia Community College student that happened last Thursday night at the school’s Annandale campus.
A 20-year-old woman was attacked by Lopez Altan just before 9 p.m. on March 21, Spital said.
“She courageously fought him off,” Spital said, adding that another student who was nearby intervened to help.
Campus police worked with Fairfax County police to determine that the same suspect was believed to be behind both attacks.
A campus police officer recognized Lopez Altan from the description of his tattoos and “unique mannerisms.” At the news conference, Spital motioned to show how the suspect would rub his fingertips back and forth.
That officer had prior interactions with Lopez Altan, when he previously worked for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Department, Spital said.
He was known to law enforcement, Davis said.
Lopez Altman was taken into custody on Friday afternoon. He’s being held with no bond.
“We took a monstrous predator off the street,” Davis said.
It’s believed the women who were attacked had no prior connection to Lopez Altan.
Police aren’t aware of any other attacks that Lopez Altan was behind, but they’re asking anyone with information about him to contact the department, including possible additional victims.
“I would be shocked if there aren’t other victims that he’s left in his wake,” Davis said. “These two acts are so brazen, so bold, so daring, that it would be hard for me to believe that he hasn’t struck before.”
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