"I felt someone touch me. I woke up and looked at him. He looked back at me."
The suspect, she says, eventually fled this neighborhood near North Broad Street without uttering a word. It's the 3rd sexual assault in the 39th police district this week.
Captain John Darby of the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit says, "Because of the short time span, and the warm weather, we want people to be aware."
The first attack took place 11 blocks from this 3d one at 26th and Indiana at 1:15 Tuesday morning. A 48 year old female awoke inside her 2nd floor bedroom to find her assailant with a knife. He sexually assaulted her before she fought him off. She remains hospitalized with wounds in the neck, arms and hands.
Twenty four hours later, about 1:00 a.m, only 4 blocks away in the 2700 block of West Allegheny, a 20 year old woman was attacked as she entered the common hallway of her converted rowhouse. She was forced into her apartment and raped by one man. Soon 2 co-horts showed up and helped rob her. Today, she has been trying to help police prepare a composite sketch of that rapist.
"By our first look, " says Darby, "these cases do not appear to be related. But there may be a common thread we have not located."
