DNA 'hit' leads to arrest of Whitefish rape suspect

A Whitefish man has been arrested for a 2007 rape in Whitefish as a result of DNA evidence collected from a similar, more recent crime in Conrad.

Timothy M. House, 27, was arrested by Whitefish Police as he was reporting for a breath test that was required by a Pondera County court as part of the terms of his release.

House was a suspect in a sexual assault on a woman that occurred at a Whitefish residence in 2007, but there was no evidence to arrest him. A rape kit sample was sent to a national DNA database.

In 2011, House became a suspect in a sexual assault that occurred in Conrad, where investigators collected a DNA sample from House that generated the database “hit,” matching him to the 2007 case in Whitefish.

That match was reported to Whitefish Police detectives, who secured a warrant for another DNA  sample from House. That sample was used to confirm the match.

House recently returned to Flathead County from Pondera County, where he had been arrested again for another sexual assault case. He was released by the court in that case, with a condition that he submit to alcohol breath tests twice a day.

When he reported for a breath test March 16, he was arrested on sexual intercourse without consent charges related to the 2007 sexual assault. House is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center with bond set at $100,000.