A woman who said she climbed into what she thought was her requested Uber near Dupont Circle in the early hours of April 13, 2014, ended up assaulted by one of two men inside the vehicle, according to police — a case that sat unsolved for 12 years until an FBI database match this past summer pointed investigators to a suspect.
According to NBC4 Washington, the woman told police she had left a bar along Connecticut Avenue just south of Dupont Circle and was looking for the Uber she had requested to take her home. She got into a minivan after its driver told her he was there for her, the outlet reported. As the vehicle pulled away and failed to head toward her home, she called a friend — who later told investigators, per a court complaint transcript cited in the report, that she heard the woman say the driver wasn't taking her home and that the woman grew increasingly scared as the call went on.
The complaint says the woman told detectives that two men were in the van: one driving and the other sexually assaulting her. She told an examining nurse she did not fight back because she was afraid, according to the complaint. The woman was dropped off at New Hampshire Avenue and 20th Street NW, then taken to a hospital, where detectives collected DNA evidence.
How Investigators Identified a Suspect
Police had no leads for 12 years, NBC4 reported. In August, the FBI notified investigators that a cold hit in its database had linked DNA evidence from the case to Rizkalla, according to the report. Police say the match tied the 39-year-old to the 2014 assault.
Rizkalla, who lives in Washington, D.C., was taken into ICE custody in June. The court complaint says he would have had a buccal swab collected during that detention; investigators say the resulting DNA profile produced the match.
What DNA database matches and safety guidance establish
The Department of Homeland Security says CBP and ICE collect DNA from people detained under federal authority, consistent with the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005. That general policy does not establish how the sample in this case was collected or the specific rules or timing for searching it in CODIS. The FBI says names and other personally identifying information are not stored in NDIS; qualified DNA analysts at laboratories with matching profiles contact one another to confirm a candidate match. The FBI reports that, as of June 2026, CODIS had produced over 808,813 hits, assisting in more than 784,252 investigations; it defines an investigation aided as one in which CODIS added value to the process. The Metropolitan Police Department’s general safety guidance advises people to tell someone they trust their destination and estimated arrival time and to consider sharing their phone location. The guidance is general, not specific to identifying a requested rideshare vehicle or responding to an impersonator, and does not suggest that any precaution would have prevented this alleged assault.
Court Proceedings
The complaint states that Rizkalla was found guilty of sexual battery in Fairfax County in 2009 and served 20 days in jail. He was arrested this week and is being held without bond, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday, November 13.
D.C. police declined to comment when NBC4 sought a response, and the station reported it had not received a reply from the attorney listed as representing Rizkalla. The outcome of the hearing and further details about the database match remain to be seen as the case proceeds.
