Daniel Clement Chafe, Rape Suspect Fugitive, Captured After 15 Years

After 15 Years, Rape Suspect Fugitive Who Faked His Own Death Captured

An Oregon man accused of raping teenaged girls he'd recruited for his "clan" was caught in Montana on Wednesday, ending a 15-year manhunt.

Daniel Clement Chafe disappeared in 1998, days before his trial for allegedly raping, sodomizing and sexually abusing at least two teens, according to the Oregonian.

The 55-year-old was reported missing by a friend who said Chafe fell overboard on a fishing trip on the Snake River in Washington, station KOIN reports.

Police believe that was an attempt to fake his death.

Chafe's goal was to build the "Cobalt Clan" by reproducing with as many underage women as possible, according to an FBI wanted poster. At the time, Chafe was married.

The case initially centered on two victims, but police said they found others who Chafe allegedly violated.

In Montana, he supposedly used the alias Gwydyn Stryder Styarfyr and owned a computer business. An undersheriff for Bozeman, where Chafe was arrested, said there was no indication that he'd preyed on teens, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

Before arriving in Montana, Chafe lived in New Mexico and worked for an internet provider, according to the Oregonian.

A detective with the Oregon State Police said he cracked the case by discovering Chafe's assumed name, CNN reports.

Chafe will be extradited to Oregon to face six counts of third-degree rape, five counts of third-degree sex abuse and seven counts of third-degree sodomy.

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