Cops: Third attack linked to Mich. "Blow Torch Rapist"

DETROIT, Mich. – According to Detroit police, a criminal dubbed the “Blow Torch Rapist” struck again Wednesday morning, reports CBS Detroit.

A 43-year-old woman told police she was leaving a gas station on Detroit’s west side just before 7 a.m. on Wednesday when a man approached her from behind and put a gun to her head. The woman said she was forced into a car, where the attacker ripped her clothes off and used a blow torch to burn her face.

The victim told police she managed to get away and call for help after stabbing the man in the eye with a screwdriver. She is now hospitalized and in stable condition.

The suspect is described as a black male with a dark complexion, about 6’2” tall and 185 pounds, in his early to mid-20s.

Authorities believe the incident is related to the attack on two women who were found naked and severely beaten in vacant fields in Detroit last July. The victims were also burned in the attacks and left in critical condition. One of the victims had been set on fire and sexually assaulted, police said. Both women survived.

Police believe the suspect is the most recent attack is the same man.