Arizona man arrested in woman's 1995 rape outside Prescott bar

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - A man has been arrested in connection to the cold-case sexual assault of an Arizona woman that happened nearly 30 years ago.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office says a then-36-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by a man in the parking lot of the Pinion Pines bar off Highway 89A in Prescott on Oct. 18, 1995.

The woman told authorities she left her car at the bar and walked to a nearby hotel. At midnight, she took a taxi back to the bar to get her car and when she opened the driver's side door, she was attacked and raped.

As she was opening the driver side door, she was attacked from behind by a strong and unknown male, thrown forcible to the ground, and brutally raped," the sheriff's office said. "The victim was only able to give a vague description of the assailant including that he was dark haired, thin, tall and wearing a dark coat that looked like a flight jacket. YCSO detectives were able to retrieve a DNA sample and latent fingerprints but were never able to identify a suspect."

YCSO cold-case detectives took over the investigation late last year and found that fingerprints from the scene were of no value, but there was DNA. 

"However further investigation found that the sample had not been put into the national DNA database," the sheriff's office said.

The DNA profile was placed into the database and matched 52-year-old Gerald Tubbs of Prescott Valley.

Tubbs was arrested and booked into jail. He is accused of sexual assault.