DNA Analysis Leads To Arrest, Conviction For 1987 Woodbridge Gas Station Rape

WOODBRIDGE, VA — Justice was served for the victim of a rape and abduction in a 1987 Woodbridge gas station bathroom, according to the Prince William Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney.

Last Thursday, a jury in Prince William County court convicted Russell Marubbio, 54, of abduction and rape for the Dec. 19, 1987 offense. Marubbio was previously arrested in June 2023 and released on bond by a substitute judge despite prosecutors' objections. With the new conviction, Marubbio is in custody of the Prince William County Sheriff's Office, which runs the county jail. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7.

Commonwealth's Attorney Amy Ashworth said prosecutors convinced the jury to believe the victim's account of what happened with the 1987 abduction and rape.

"My thanks to Detectives [Giannina] Pineda and [Colleen] Grantham for re-examining this case and never giving up despite all the difficulties that arose in the course of this investigation," said Ashworth in a statement. "This was a thirty-eight-year-old rape case that had long been forgotten about by everyone except the victim who has had to live with the fear and pain of having been raped, and without any closure on this case until now."

The 50-year-old woman was working as a clerk at the Chevron gas station at 13452 Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge when she went to use the bathroom and encountered a man with a knife. Prosecutors say the man taped her head and hands and raped her. Police responded to the scene, and a doctor at the Potomac Hospital collected a physical evidence recovery kit from the victim. The victim did not know the suspect.

The kit was submitted to the Department of Forensic Science. A male DNA profile was developed, but a DNA match was not found.

A breakthrough in the cold case came after Pineda and Grantham reopened the case. Physical evidence was resubmitted to the Department of Forensic Science for more modern DNA testing, resulting in a male DNA profile. Prosecutors say Police Chief Peter Newsham provided resources and personnel to help with the investigation.

The detectives also sent cuttings of stains from the victim's underwear to the Marshall University Forensic Science Center, which resulted in an identification of twins, John Arthur Marubbio of Deltona, Florida, and Russell Anthony Marubbio of Palatka, Florida. With help from Florida special agents, they got buccal swabs from the twin brothers to compare DNA to the DNA profile from the evidence. The DNA matched but could not distinguish between the twins.

In August 2022, detectives sought advanced DNA analysis services from Parabon NanoLabs to solve the rare case of twin suspects. Parabon used deep whole genome sequencing and specialized bioinformatics analysis to find unique mutations in each twin. Those were compared to the DNA profile from the evidence, resulting in Russell Marubbio being identified as the suspect.

The results were presented as evidence in court. This was the first time this technique was successfully applied in court, as there were past challenges in identifying DNA from identical twins. A number of forensic scientists, labs, prosecutors, witness coordinator, and Prince William County Police investigators contributed to the case.