Police Release Picture Of Suspect In DePaul Attack, Two Others On North Side
Updated 08/20/15 - 6 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A DePaul University student was sexually assaulted as she was walking to her apartment on the school's Lincoln Park campus early Thursday, and the suspect may have been involved in at least two previous attacks.
Police said the 21-year-old woman was walking home in the 900 block of West Belden Avenue around 1:45 a.m. Thursday, when she was attacked from behind by an unknown male. The attacker knocked her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. According to sources, he groped and fondled her.
The victim screamed, causing the man to run away.
DePaul spokeswoman Carol Hughes confirmed the victim is a student, and said the young woman called police after the attack.
The victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was being treated Thursday morning.
A surveillance camera on the block recorded video of the attacker. Police said the man described by the victim is suspected in two other similar attacks earlier this month – another in Lincoln Park, and one in Old Town.
On Aug. 9, a woman walking home alone in the 1900 block of North Bissell Street around 3:45 a.m. was grabbed from behind and sexually assaulted. On Aug. 15, a woman was at the entryway of her home in the 100 block of West Goethe Street around 12:25 a.m., when a man approached from behind, and grabbed her. Police said she fought him off.
Police said the suspect in all three attacks was described as a man between the ages of 25 and 45, standing 5'5" to 5'9", and weighing 160 to 180 pounds. He has olive skin, short dark hair, and was last seen wearing a dark-colored, horizontally-striped polo shirt, and jeans cuffed at the bottom.
A university spokesperson says there will be stepped up security patrols in the wake of Thursday's attack. Public safety officials are available to escort students home. Students are discouraged from being distracted by their smart phones or music players when they are walking home late at night, CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports.