A DNA hit clinched the deal in at least one unsolved rape on Vashon Island that occurred in January of this year.

On January 10th a 16 year-old girl was sleeping in the family home about 4:00 AM when a man came into the residence, apparently through an unlocked door. He made his way to the girl’s room, raped the teen and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

As soon as the man was gone she woke her parents and the Sheriff's Office was called.

The victim told deputies that, while she didn’t see the suspect’s face, she felt a beard and thought it might be an acquaintance, 27 year-old Brian Dublin, who lives on Vashon.

Based on the information from the girl, detectives contacted Dublin later that day. He denied he had been the attacker, and provided a story as to his whereabouts the night before.

Since the identification of Dublin was tentative, there was not enough information to arrest him.

The investigation proceeded and other possible suspects were interviewed. In addition, Dublin remained at least a “person of interest”, and his alibi was checked. However detectives were never able to eliminate him as the perpetrator.

As part of their investigation, detectives submitted a semen sample obtained from a rape kit examination of the victim at Harborview, and sent it to the WSP Lab on January 14th.

On Feb. 14th the Crime Lab told the Sheriff's Office the sample matched a 2003 rape case on Vashon that had never been solved. However there was no match to a specific person in their database.

During further investigation of both cases, detectives learned that Dublin was arrested in Chelan County last March. The arrest netted a glass smoking pipe in his pocket. The pipe obtained from eastern Washington and submitted to the lab. DNA found on the pipe was a “possible” match to the DNA taken from the rape kit.

A search warrant was obtained for Dublin’s DNA, and detectives obtained a salvia sample on April 6th.

On May 21st the WSP Lab told case detectives the saliva DNA from Brian Dublin matched the DNA from the rape kit from the 2010 assualt. The Lab estimated the probability of selecting an unrelated individual at random from the U.S. population with a matching profile was one in 130 quadrillion.

Yesterday (May 25th), Dublin was arrested without resistance in Seattle. He was booked into the King County Jail and is currently held without bail.

The circumstances in the 2003 rape are similar to this case, and the investigation continues.

Bail was set this afternoon for Vashon rape suspect Brian Dublin. Bail is $500,000. The Sheriff's offices expects he will be formally charged on May 27.