$3,000 Reward Offered In Knife Attack On Woman In Lincoln Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A community activist has announced a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the man wanted in a brutal knife attack on a recent DePaul University graduate last week.
"We need to bring this man to justice. We need to have him apprehended, because he might go out and next time he might murder somebody, or kill somebody," Raul Montes Jr. said.
The announcement comes a day after police confirmed they had found the attacker's getaway car, and two days after investigators released surveillance video of the suspect.
Police have said the man brutally slashed a 22-year-old woman's face and neck on July 18 near Halsted and Fullerton in Lincoln Park, while she was walking across the street from the music buildings at DePaul University.
The recent graduate was walking down the street when police say the suspect attacked the woman, whom they believe he was attempting to sexually assault.
The young woman was left for dead, bleeding from the face and neck when a Good Samaritan found her.
"I [saw] a girl laying on the floor, full of blood on her forehead and the throat area," said the Good Samaritan, Syed Subhan. "I thought she got hit by a car, but then I see the blood and I realized it's something else."
Following the attack, the woman was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition. Police said she was nearly killed.
On Wednesday, police released surveillance video they say shows the suspect looking for cars to steal the day before the attack. The man is shown rolling up on a bicycle to 353 N. Desplaines St. in the Fulton River District and going through a garage before eventually making off with a car.
Police said Thursday that, a day or two after the attack, the stolen SUV the suspect was driving was found near 96th and Dobson, about a 45-minute drive from the scene.
The suspect is known to frequent the area of Milwaukee and Grand avenues and Halsted, and the intersection of Orleans and Division streets.
On Thursday, with the suspect's getaway vehicle found police Supt. Eddie Johnson said he was feeling confident about an arrest.
"We've got some pretty good things in the hopper, so it's our hope that we'll bring this person in sooner than later," Johnson said.
As of Thursday, the victim's had been upgraded to serious condition at Illinois Masonic.
