Tuesday, January 12, 2010

this is seriously starting to scare me

Investigators say 9 rapes, sex assaults reported since June

The first of seven reported rapes and sexual assaults in Fayetteville were reported in June, according to police reports released today.

Police are investigating the connection between the assaults and two additional attacks reported in Hope Mills and on Fort Bragg.

Fayetteville police said they don't believe an additional case reported last summer in Hoke County is connected to the attacks under investigation in Fayetteville.

In nearly all the cases, a man has broken through a door or window of a woman's apartment or duplex between 10 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. Vague descriptions of a suspect from Fort Bragg investigators and Fayetteville police are similar. Fayetteville police said the intruder covered his face in the attacks in the city.

The Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County said it has received calls about additional "home invasions and sexual assaults" that haven't been reported, and the organization is working with law enforcement.

The Fayetteville assaults hadn't been disclosed by the Police Department until Monday. Today, the department released public information from the reports that show the first two assaults were reported a block apart on Glenwick Drive over two consecutive nights in June.

Police Chief Tom Bergamine said his investigators recently realized there may be a connection between the attacks.

According to the Fayetteville police reports, a man forced his way into a woman's home on Glenwick Drive about 10:30 p.m. June 24 and attempted to assault the 29-year-old woman.

The next day - June 25 - another woman living on Glenwick Drive reported that a man forced his way into her home, raped her and took $5, according to the police reports.

Then in November, two reported assaults were in Tallywood Arms Apartments off Raeford Road within 10 days of each another. In the first, on Nov. 4, a woman told police that a man broke into her home about 2 a.m. and sexually assaulted her, the reports say. On Nov. 18, a woman told police that a man forced his way into her home, raped her and stole $125, a police report said. Both women lived on Ancestry Drive.

On Dec. 12, a woman living on Preston Woods Lane reported that a man entered her home through an unlocked door about 8:10 p.m., assaulted her and robbed her of $150, according to the reports.

On Dec. 25, a woman in The Cottages on Elm, on Elm Street off Bragg Boulevard, was raped by a man who broke into her home between 9 and 10:30 p.m., the report said. The woman suffered internal injuries, according to the report.

On Jan. 4, a woman living on Tryon Drive, in Briarcliff Condominiums, said a man climbed through a window in her home, raped her and stole a gold engagement ring set valued at $500.

Several reports of break-ins and at least one sexual assault have been reported in Fort Bragg family housing areas, according to the Army's Criminal Investigation Command. However, military investigators said they cannot confirm that those cases are linked to reports in Fayetteville.

Military officials have handed out fliers on Fort Bragg that include a composite sketch of the suspect in those cases and a description of the man.

A CID spokesman refused today to release the dates of the break-ins and sexual assault on post for "investigative reasons."

The Hope Mills case on Sunday was off Elk Road, the town's police chief said. A woman living in apartments was on the phone with a friend when a man broke into home and attacked her, according to town Police Chief Robert Hassell.

The person on the phone called 911, Hassell said, and a responding police officer forced his way into the apartment as the attacker went out a back door.

Police set up a search area and used dogs to track the man but were unable to locate him, Hassell said.

That incident was reported just before 10 p.m., he said. No description of the assailant was available.

A flier with a composite sketch of a suspect in at least one assault on Fort Bragg has been circulated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command.

City police say they have no description of a suspect in their cases.

In addition, the Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County said today in a statement that the organization has received "several calls describing similar events that were not reported to police." The organization's executive director said it has been working with local law enforcement to address recent home invasions and sexual assaults. It was not immediately clear how many additional cases the organization has received calls about, nor whether police investigators believe the unreported cases are related.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office announced today its deputies are investigating three rapes that have been reported this month. But a spokeswoman said investigators don't believe the incidents are related. One involves a juvenile. A second rape was reported Nov. 30 on Cumberland Gap Road near Hope Mills, the spokeswoman said.

The most recent was reported Jan. 2 and occurred at a home on Gillespie Street, the release said.

County investigators say the patterns in their cases don't match those in the other rapes.

Fayetteville police Sgt. Pam Brewington said investigators are planning to meet to compare notes and cases.

2 comments:

CorinneR. said...

Definitely scary! Stay safe hon!

Marie said...

Damn, that one chick had a $500 engagement ring?