Police released a sketch today of the predator they say broke into the row home of a woman in the 1100 block of South Cleveland in South Philadelphia and sexually assaulted her. The victim, whose identity we are protecting, tells us she was asleep at around 5:30 when she had a rude awakening.
She said she awoke to, "a man in my door with like his face covered and he had a knife with him - like a kitchen knife, basically I just panicked."
The attacker, who wore a white athletic shirt, blue denim pants and tan Timberland boots, is said to be in his mid 20's, stands 5'9" to 6 feet, weighs about 140 pounds and has a light brown complexion.
Neighbor Janet Guions says, "We just saw it on the TV but I never seen him before." Several other neighbors said they too haven't seen the man depicted in the sketch.
Neighbors say there's a playground a block away that attracts vagrants, and that it's likely the culprit is not from the block. What rattles neighbors is that the culprit broke into the victims home while she was sleeping.
As for the victim: "I don't want this to happen to anybody. This is definitely a traumatic experience that I'm not gonna heal from overnight."
Police say the predator also got away with a Dell laptop computer, cell phone and Comcast cable box. They have reason to believe that the offender may go to the area of 18th to 19th Streets around Carpenter to Christian Streets.
Anyone with information on his identity is being asked to call 9-1-1.