Search warrants detail how investigators narrowed to a suspect after a masked attack outside a Starbucks.
COLLINSVILLE, IL — Investigators used family DNA and months of follow-up work to identify a man accused of kidnapping a woman from a busy retail parking lot, forcing her to drive to a second location, and sexually assaulting her before returning her to Collinsville, authorities say.
The case drew attention because it started in daylight near stores and commuters, then went quiet while police chased leads that were not visible to the public. Court records described in recent reporting outline how detectives used a mix of surveillance video, vehicle clues and a DNA trail that pointed first to a relative, then to a named suspect. The man arrested has denied wrongdoing in court filings, and prosecutors say the evidence supports multiple felony charges.
The attack, police said, began around 7 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2022, in the Collinsville Crossing retail complex, where a woman was sitting in her vehicle outside a Starbucks waiting for her order. A man approached her with what she described as a large knife, forced his way into the situation and made her drive away, according to a Collinsville Police Department statement released after the arrest. Police said the woman was taken to Troy, Illinois, where she was sexually assaulted. The man then directed her back toward the Collinsville Crossing area, parked near a Wendy’s and left on foot around 7:50 a.m., police said.
In the hours that followed, officers flooded the shopping area and nearby roads looking for a suspect who, investigators said, appeared to have planned the crime to avoid leaving an obvious identity behind. Police described the attack as a random act of violence, a detail that heightened fear in the community because it meant the victim did not know her attacker and could not point investigators to a name. Early public information centered on a sketch, still images and a vehicle police believed was connected to the crime: a Chevrolet Cruze. Detectives asked residents and businesses to review video, and they collected evidence from the victim’s vehicle and from where she said the assault occurred, according to descriptions in later court records.
Over the next several months, investigators worked a timeline built from cameras and small fragments of information that can be easy to overlook in a crowded retail parking lot. Police reviewed footage from the area, tracked the suspected vehicle’s movements and compared the details to registrations and possible owners, according to the reporting based on warrants. Detectives also followed up on tips prompted by the sketch and the surveillance images, checking alibis and narrowing a list of people who matched the general description. Law enforcement officials have said cases like this can hinge on persistence: rechecking video frame by frame, running down partial plate information, and revisiting early assumptions when leads stall.
According to the search-warrant descriptions referenced in recent coverage, DNA played a central role, but not in the simple way many people expect. Rather than producing an immediate match to a named suspect, investigators pursued a technique often called familial DNA, in which a forensic profile can point to a close biological relative. Detectives then use traditional police work to build out a family tree, confirm who could have been in the area and seek additional samples through consent or court orders. Officials involved in the case have not publicly detailed every step of the DNA work in open court, and some records remain sealed, but the warrants described an approach that combined genetic leads with old-fashioned surveillance review and interviews.
On March 8, 2023, authorities announced that Timothy J. Dubois Jr., 39, of Shobonier, Illinois, had been arrested and charged in relation to the case. The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Dubois with eight counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated kidnapping, according to a published report citing a police release. He was held without bond at the time of the announcement. Prosecutors have said the charges reflect both the alleged use of a weapon and the movement of the victim from one place to another, which can elevate the severity of the allegations under Illinois law.
In court, the next phase typically focuses on how evidence is tested, collected and presented, and whether police followed required procedures for searches and DNA collection. Defense attorneys often scrutinize the chain of custody for forensic items, the reliability of witness descriptions and the quality of video identification. Prosecutors, for their part, usually build their case around a clear sequence: the victim’s account, any supporting medical or forensic findings, the camera timeline and how investigators connected those pieces to a suspect. In this case, the newly described warrants add another layer likely to be debated in hearings: what exactly the DNA analysis showed at each stage, how investigators moved from a relative match to a named person, and how the final comparison sample was collected and tested.
The case also has a human side that is hard to capture in legal language. It began, police said, with a routine morning stop that turned into a violent crime in a place many people view as safe and familiar. Friends and residents in the area have described the Collinsville Crossing shopping center as a typical suburban hub where people grab coffee before work, meet for errands and pass through without giving much thought to security cameras overhead. Investigators have said the woman’s report and cooperation helped them establish a timeline quickly, and that the community’s tips and video submissions helped narrow the field even before the DNA work matured. “This was a random act of violence,” police said at the time, underscoring why they wanted the suspect identified quickly.
As of Tuesday, the accused remains charged in Madison County, and the case is expected to continue through pretrial motions and evidentiary hearings where attorneys will argue over forensic testing and search procedures. Any trial date would be set by the court after those steps, and additional details about the familial DNA work could emerge as filings are unsealed or testimony is heard. For now, prosecutors say the investigation shows how a case can be solved by pairing modern DNA tools with steady, detail-driven police work.
Author note: Last updated March 3, 2026.