A convicted Massachusetts rapist, who became known for his signature breath, has been captured in California after years on the run, according to police.
The man, who became known as the “bad breath rapist” due to his apparent poor oral hygiene, raped a coworker at knifepoint in 2005.
Tuen K. Lee was quickly linked to the violent Feb. 2, 2005, assault and arrested by police in the Boston suburb of Quincy.
Per USA Today, DNA evidence and “his horrible breath” linked Lee to the crime.
He was set to go on trial in Quincy in 2007, but he never showed up to court.
He was facing a life sentence and fled the area before his trial. A jury convicted him in absentia after two days of deliberations.
Police spent 17 years searching for the convicted rapist, but they had no luck finding Lee. Not even an appearance on “America’s Most Wanted” helped find the fugitive.
The Massachusetts State Police never gave up, posting about Lee on the agency’s Facebook page last July:
However, police recently got a break in the case that led them to begin looking in northern California.
Have you heard of the “bad breath rapist”?
According to USA Today, after the tip, detectives began to scour images online of a man they believed was Lee, who was living in a community called Diablo, California, just east of San Francisco.
Believing they had their man, police in the nearby city of Danville trailed Lee on Tuesday as he traveled with a woman.
Police initiated a traffic stop in which Lee initially gave officers a false name. Eventually, he admitted his true identity, and he was arrested and taken to jail in Danville where he will be held until his extradition.
A check of the convicted rapist’s fingerprints confirmed the lengthy manhunt was over.
The Massachusetts State Police celebrated Lee’s arrest both in a news release and with a Facebook post:
According to police, Lee had been living with the woman he was with during his arrest for 15 years.
She said she had no idea that he was using a false identity and that he had been convicted of a vicious sexual assault on the other side of the country.
