Violent suspect behind bars nearly 8 months after attack in North Travis County

AUSTIN,Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A violent, sexual assault suspect in northern Travis County is finally behind bars.

It took authorities nearly eight-months to track down Quentin Goffney who was in the general area where the attack took place.

Quentin Goffney is accused of sexually assaulting a woman and then stabbing her in northern Travis County.  DNA from a sexual assault in Houston is what put authorities on Goffney's trail.

“I'm just happy to report this person is no longer a danger out on the streets in this area or anywhere else in this state,” said Captain Craig Smith with the Travis county sheriff's office.

According to Captain Smith, Quentin Goffney is accused of sexually assaulting and stabbing a woman near Thermal Drive and Wells Branch Parkway, an incident which happened nearly eight months ago.

“The scary part about it is every day that went by you can only imagine what the victim in this case felt and people living in the area. This happened in a really populated area of the northern part of Travis county,” said Captain Smith.

Following the incident one of the leads authorities had was an artist sketch of the suspect so they put it out there for the public to see but didn't get any phone calls, in fact they hardly got any calls about the incident in general.

“This was an odd case typically we get lots of phone calls,” said Smith.

He said getting tips from the public usually isn't an issue, this case was a different story.

“We rely so heavily on the community to help us solve crimes because the community is who notices what doesn't seem quite right in their neighborhood,” said Smith.

Without a whole lot of outside help, the sheriff's office was on their own. “People who live in the area were concerned, our deputies that work in the area were concerned just doing everything that we could to get this person off of the street,” said Smith.

It wasn't until a DNA match from a sexual assault case out of Houston where they were able to get back on track. “As it turns out his DNA was already on file,” said Smith.

According to Captain Smith, DNA from sexual assault cases are put on a nationwide database.

After matching Goffney's DNA to both cases they were able to track him down to in north Travis County, the general area where the attack took place.

Goffney's bond is set at $350,000.

Captain Smith urges people not to be afraid in reporting suspicious activity in your area as it could have led to a much sooner arrest.