Starbucks cup used to identify rape suspect in Olympia

OLYMPIA — A discarded Starbucks cup helped lead police to a rape suspect in Olympia.

The paper cup fell out of the attacker’s car Feb. 19 as a woman fled in a parking lot.

The cup had a sticker with coffee information that showed it had been bought earlier that day at a Starbucks drive-through in DuPont. Police were able to match surveillance video, leading to the arrest Tuesday of 35-year-old Bryon E. Johnston.

The Olympian reports a judge found probable cause Wednesday to hold Johnston in jail for investigation of kidnapping and rape in the February attack and a similar attack in November on another woman abducted from an Olympia bus stop.

Johnston’s defense lawyer, Paul Strophy, declined to comment Wednesday.

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