'Long time coming': Victim relieved after arrest of alleged 'Ramsey Street Rapist'

"It's been a long time coming," the woman said. "Right now, the main emotion I'm feeling is relief."

The victim, who did not want to be identified, was raped in September 2007 while she was a student at Methodist University.

She said a man raped her at her Heather Ridge apartment after she fell asleep in the main room. She said two friends slept in another room.

"He broke into the sliding glass door, and when he woke me up he mentioned that if I made any noise or anything like that, that the other two would get it," she said.

That is when she said the man took her outside the apartment and into a field where she was raped.

Following the horrific incident, the woman dropped out of school and moved back home to another state.

"I just want to know why ... what drove him to do this and ruin that aspect and that time in so many people's lives?" she said.

Police said they used DNA to link Darold Wayne Bowden, 43, of Linden, to a series of unsolved sexual assaults that occurred near North Fayetteville and Ramsey streets between March 2006 and January 2008. The sexual assaults instilled fear among residents in the area.

"Our victims are important to us, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them justice," said police Lt. John Somerindyke, who said the department devoted "thousands of hours" to investigate and solve the crimes.

A judge on Thursday declared Bowden a flight risk and ordered he be held without bond.

Fayetteville police searching for 'Ramsey Street Rapist'

"During the course of this investigation, as I said in court, (we) uncovered evidence that he was planning to go out of state once he became aware of these allegations," said Billy West, with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.

The victim said that the fact her alleged attacker is behind bars is starting to sink in.

"I know it's still kind of a long road ... but at least I know it's the beginning of the healing," she said.