With the days ticking down in Kevin Coe's 25-year sentence, the police and prosecutors who'd put him in prison back in 1981 were hoping that Washington's attorney general would file papers to keep a man they called a serial rapist locked up in a mental health treatment center.

Maybe forever.

Sara James, Dateline NBC: Do you think he's still a threat to society?

Steve Matthews, prosecutor: He's a person that I wouldn't think our society ought to take a chance on.

The big question: Could the state prove Coe had a so-called mental defect, as the law required? The attorney general hired new experts to look back at the South Hill rape cases, and re-examine the mountain of evidence that had been accumulated from the crimes.

First,  the records showed that a psychiatrist had once labeled Coe a psychopath.

Kevin Coe: I'm not a psychopath.

Sara James: You're not a psychopath?

Coe: No. Certainly not.

Sara James: But if you're a psychopath, then you're a really good liar. And you're lying to me right now.

Coe: And what if I'm innocent?

What's more, a medical expert who examined the record found that Coe suffered from four mental abnormalities, and might re-offend again if not confined to a secure facility.

In addition, a renowned profiler who studied the South Hill attacks noted that at least 18 women were attacked by a man with a signature -- the fist in the mouth and other distinctive patterns -- similar to that used in the rape of Julie Harmia, the one attack Coe remained convicted of.

The attorney general had made his decision. And just days before Kevin Coe was set to be released from prison came this announcement:

McKenna: Our action in petitioning for Coe's civil commitment today will prevent his release until a jury has heard the sexually violent predator case...

The papers had been filed. Kevin Coe would not be released.

Sara James: Do you believe Kevin Coe is still a danger to the people of Washington State?

McKenna: Well, more importantly, I know that medical experts believe he is still a danger to the people of this state.

The process of keeping Kevin Coe locked up resumes today. A hearing is slated for this morning at 9:30.

And in a bizarre twist, back in Spokane, Shelley Monahan would report on the story -- the story of the man she believed raped her. And while she never could identify Coe in a line-up, she will now, two decades later, finally get her day in court.

Monahan: If you think about the fact that I was one of the first rape victims to come full circle and be back in Spokane at a time when all this pain is resurfacing for so many people I guess it is appropriate for me to be here. I'm home.

But before the case would go to court, there'd be a startling discovery: that scientific certainty that some had longed for all these years. A new search of the police department evidence room nearly three decades after the South Hill rapist first truck, turned up a long-lost box of evidence containing a slide from Julie Harmia's rape kit. Finally, there was DNA in the case of the South Hill Rapist. And it was matched to Kevin Coe.

A state investigator came across an evidence slide that matched DNA on file of Kevin Coe.

A DNA match, said the state. A match that meant there was finally 21st-Century scientific evidence linking Coe to the rape of Julie Harmia.

McKenna: Coe is undoubtedly the South Hill Rapist. The evidence is overwhelming.

While Coe's lawyer called the finding of the slide "mysterious," prosecutors said it proved they were right. That despite all his protests of innocence, Coe was in fact guilty. End of story.

But here's the catch: the DNA links Coe to one rape, and it's the rape for which he's already served 25 years in prison. So prosecutors still face a return to court for Kevin Coe's civil trial to try to keep him locked up.

As for Coe, despite his bravado and claims of innocence, he seemed almost resigned to the fact that he may be destined to die behind bars.

Sara James: If you got committed, civilly committed, do you think you would ever get out, Kevin?

Coe: Oh, no. You never get out. No, you never get out from that.

And if he does somehow, someday, get out? In this quiet town by the river, there are still fears even now by the victims who still see the face of the phantom who terrorized them so long ago.

Harmia: I would never have peace. And I'm sure none of the 40 women that are his victims would ever have peace either.

Kevin Coe's civil commitment trial is scheduled to begin in Spokane on Sept. 15.

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