Beth FrancescoThe Shorthorn University of Texas-Arlington
ARLINGTON, Texas?Police are waiting for DNA test results to determine if an on-campus sexual assault is linked to six others that have taken place near Texas Christian University in the past few months.
University of Texas-Arlington police, who are handling the investigation of the May 13 sexual assault at Centennial Court Apartments, issued a campus alert and released a description and composite drawing of the alleged rapist.
The descriptions of the cases and the attacker’s method have led police to believe rapes at UTA and TCU in Fort Worth could have been committed by the same man, Fort Worth police Sgt. Paul Ware said.
“The general description of the actor and the con approach?those things alone are very similar, and we’d be amiss if we didn’t look at these cases as linked,” Ware said.
In each case, the assailant surveyed the female’s apartment for other people before returning to assault the victim. Physical descriptions of the attacker also match, police officials said.
According to the UTA police report, sometime between 10:30 a.m. and noon, the female UTA victim was moving out of her apartment in Centennial Court, 700 W. Mitchell Circle. Police said the woman returned to her unlocked apartment, where the assailant was waiting.
The victim described her attacker as a Hispanic male in his late 20s with brown eyes and black hair. She also told police the man was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed about 200 pounds and had a fade hair cut with no sideburns. The man also had a goatee or one to two day beard growth and was wearing a red, white and blue plaid shirt with blue jeans.
The victim’s description of the man is similar to those reports from TCU victims, Ware said. Also similar are the surveillance methods before the attack.
According to police, the rapist made contact with his victims, who were women between the ages of 19 to 25, by coming to their doors and asking questions. In some instances, he asked to use the phone or told the victim he was looking for someone and must be at the wrong apartment.
UTA Assistant Police Chief James Ferguson confirmed that the UTA victim did have prior contact with her attacker.
“Unfortunately, you can become a victim at any time of the day,” Ferguson said. “In broad daylight, the middle of the day, when you’re occupied with doing something?your radar is not working. You think, ‘The bad guys aren’t out in the morning.’ You can’t take things for granted these days.”
“If you are in your home or apartment, and somebody approaches the window or door asking for directions or to use the phone, be very, very leery. You’re under no obligation to talk to these individuals.”
Ferguson said the police department has kept daily contact with the victim and that she is doing “as well as can be expected.” The victim graduated the Saturday prior to the rape.
DNA testing usually takes a few months, but results for UTA should be ready within a few weeks because they are on rush order, Ware said. After the results are reported, police will compare the assaults.
Right now, Fort Worth police detectives say enough similarities exist to investigate the assaults as related.
U WIRE