Wash. state cops use Starbucks cup to track alleged rapist

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A discarded Starbucks cup helped lead police to a rape suspect in Olympia, Wash.

The paper cup fell out of the alleged attacker's car into a parking lot on Feb. 19 as the woman who said she was accosted fled. The small piece of trash led to a big break in the case and the arrest of 35-year-old Bryon E. Johnston on Tuesday.

The cup had a sticker with coffee information that revealed it had been bought earlier that day at a Starbucks drive-through in DuPont. Police were able to match surveillance video.

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 comment Wednesday.