Be Careful Out There!

Police: Rapist attacked two women downtown
Police asking for public's help in identifying man.
By Andrea Lorenz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Austin police are warning women to be on the lookout while downtown
after a man raped a woman at knifepoint in her downtown condo following
a thwarted attempt to attack another woman in a nearby parking garage
early Saturday.

Detective Steve Boline described the man as a "true bogeyman" because
he attacked random women who did not know him.

"Anytime you have a stranger-type incident similar to this, it's
extremely dangerous," Boline said. "We're asking for the community's
help to identify this person."

The man, who is wanted on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault and
attempted aggravated sexual assault, has not been caught or identified.


Police have put extra patrols on downtown streets and are asking women
to be cautious.

According to police, a man followed a woman to her car in a parking
garage at 301 Congress Ave. at 3:30 a.m. Saturday after the woman left
work at an unnamed business.

The woman was on the phone with her boyfriend, and Boline said that
having noticed the man following her, the woman turned to confront him
with her finger on the trigger of a bottle of Mace. The man knocked her
down, but after a brief struggle, she sprayed Mace in his face, and he
left, Boline said.

Surveillance video shows the man walking slowly out of the garage while
wiping his eyes.

Within 30 minutes, police say the man somehow entered a woman's
apartment in the Railyard Condominiums a few blocks away on East Fourth
Street, which Boline described as a gated complex.

There, the man raped the woman at knifepoint, Boline said. Neither
woman was injured by the knife.

The man is described as white, in his late 20s or early 30s, and
between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall with a husky build. He
had light red or blond hair, worn short in a buzz cut.

According to surveillance video footage and victim descriptions, the
man was wearing a dark shirt with the word "Volunteer" on the back.
Boline said people with organizations that help the homeless have been
handing these shirts out lately.

"There are lots of these T-shirts downtown," Boline said.

Anyone with information about the incident or the attacker should call
the Austin police sex crimes unit at 974-5095.

alorenz@statesman.com; 445-3972