UPDATE AT 4 p.m.: The neighborhood watch volunteer suspected of raping four women in southern Dallas has been arrested in Louisiana.
Van Dralan Dixson, 38, was arrested in a motel near downtown Baton Rouge around 2 this afternoon, Dallas police announced at a press conference.
Police believe a single attacker sexually assaulted as many as nine women since June in the Fair Park area.
Police say the attacker forced victims at gunpoint into secluded areas and sexually assaulted them.
Investigators say DNA evidence has linked Dixson to four of those attacks, while test results from other attacks are pending.
Dixson patrolled streets in his neighborhood several times a week, neighbors said.
Police had obtained Dixson’s DNA last week. Soon after, he went missing. Dixson was identified as a suspect over the weekend. His car was found abandoned in Garland on Sunday.
Federal agents had been assisting Dallas police in the manhunt, and Dixson’s friends, family, and associates had been interviewed for clues to try to find him.
U.S. Marshals tracked Dixson down this afternoon. He's being held in a Louisiana jail. Dallas sex assault detectives are on their way to Baton Rouge to meet with Dixson.
At today's press conference, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said he would provide more details regarding the chronology of the serial rapist case. The department has been criticized for waiting to publicize that a serial rapist was on the loose, and for announcing that a man -- not Dixson -- was a "person of interest" in the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
