Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man who sexually assaulted a woman as she was finishing an afternoon walk through Elysian Park. The woman had notified her Twitter followers that she was in the park before the Oct. 31 attack. Police are not saying the victim’s Twitter post made her a target but they are investigating it as a possibility, said officer G. Juarez with the Northeast Division.
Undercover officers have been in the park since the attack to try and find the suspect, who the woman recognized from a previous visit. “But nothing has proved to be fruitful,” Juarez said of the investigation.
The woman was assaulted at about 1 p.m. as she was walking back to her vehicle parked near Stadium Way and Academy Road. The man emerged from a bush near a park service road and grabbed the woman from behind, using one hand to cover her mouth and the other to sexually assault her, Juarez said. The woman managed to escape, and the suspect ran up a trail in the direction of Park Drive.
The suspect is described as a Latino male in his early to mid 30s. He is described as having black hair, brown eyes and is between 5′-8 ‘to 5′-10′ tall. Police said they will be releasing a composite drawing of the suspect.
Juarez said there have been no other recent reports of sexual assaults in the park.
Anyone with information should call Officer Juraez at 213-847-5454.
* Update: Police released a composite drawing of the suspect. The Eastsider
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
What part of 600 acre Elysian Park?
Why do u need to post everywhere you go on twitter….
@Jetsy83: Somebody has to be mayor.
A picture might be helpful. “The suspect is described as a Latino male in his early to mid 30s. He is described as having black hair, brown eyes and is between 5′-8 ‘to 5′-10′ tall.”
@ Michael. Hilarious……yet terrible.
That’s problem one of the busier locations. I am sorry for the victim.
@Michael Mayor? You’re mixing up Twitter with Foursquare (and I kind of wish I didn’t know the difference).
Another reminder that it isn’t safe to walk these trails alone. My guess is that her attacker noticed her walking frequently rather that on Twitter. This is not some random attack, wrong place wrong time type of thing. Pay attention to your surroundings always!
I find myself doubting the precise location given, and noted on the map. That is far too in the wide open for such. And there is no trail from that spot to Park Drive. Perhaps the location was actually Elysian Park Drive and Academy Road? And since the woman was going to her car, it could be noted that a number of people do park their cars at that spot.
I also wonder: it is noted that he grabbed the woman around her face from behind, but she broke away. OK — so how is that a sexual assault, instead of maybe an attempted robbery? I will also note, that is a very unlikely place for a sexual assault, which would be more time consuming than a fast robbery. Too many people coming and going at that location, what with it being a significant park entrance and cars parking there all the time. While you could get a short distance away out of sight there, you could never get a safe distance away nor out of hearing range of even the brush rustling. I would not jump to a conclusion that simply because he grabbed a woman from behind, it was a sexual assault and not a robbery. So is there something else to indicate sexual assault was the intent?
Henry,
I totally agree – I meant to say: that’s PROBABLY one of the busier locations. I had the same thoughts as I walk in that area constantly and it seems to open with plenty of cars and people. I feel bad though, that’s scary
Hoping Lt. Buhrmester can tell us the time of the assault and get us a drawing, a lot of us are in that park, in that area almost every day and we want to be safe. There are plenty of pockets in that stretch where someone could be grabbed/assaulted and nobody would see or notice – heading towards the volleyball nets, the picnic tables on both sides, etc.
It’s really sad – such a beautiful park but I would never walk alone in anything but the most populated areas. Sigh…this city.
“…a lot of us are in that park, in that area almost every day and we want to be safe.” OK. We all want safe, no prob there.
Prob won’t happen but am waiting for whine factor on this thread like on the handcuffed suspect. Oh the helicopters, 30 cops standing around, spitting, dogs in garden, he wasn’t armed, etc.
You wants cops and protection and criminals to be chased you get cops. This is how it works in the center of a big American city.
I am a woman who has been running in Elysian Park for 20 years, always in the morning and never has had an incident on the west end of the park. I pretty much know all the faces on the path every morning. Not wearing headphones and keeping an eye on my surroundings at all times is standard practice though. When I lived in the South Bay and ran on the beach, I had numerous run-ins with white, clean-cut guys exposing themselves to me. I am not discounting what happened to this woman in the park, I just want to point out that it has been a very safe place for me to enjoy for two decades and not a crime-ridden trail except for all the off-leash dogs.
Echo Park Patch has posted a sketch of the suspect:
http://echopark.patch.com/articles/police-release-sketch-of-suspect-in-elysian-park-assault