Attack on 16-year-old girl latest in string of sexual assaults

Cathy Scott

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

A 16-year-old girl in the northwest valley was attacked Wednesday by a man Metro Police believe may be the same one responsible for six other attacks in recent months.

This latest attack occurred in the 4000 block of West Flamingo Road at Decatur Boulevard on Feb. 17. The attacker appeared to have gone through an unlocked patio door, said Sgt. Clint Robison of Metro's sexual assault detail.

As a precaution, Robison suggested, residents should buy an inexpensive gadget sold in hardware stores that prevents sliding-glass doors and sliding windows from being opened by an intruder.

What worries investigators is that the attacker is getting violent, Robison said. One woman was pistol whipped. And the latest victim was also hurt, he said, declining to reveal her injuries.

No good descriptions of the attacker have been reported except that he wears a ski mask and gloves. Except for one attack, the man targets single women living in first-floor apartments at the end of apartment complexes near walls, Robison said.

"He's never hit the interior of an apartment complex," he said. "Right now, the best chance we have of catching him is when he strikes again. It's terrible. We want to catch him before he kills someone.

"We're doing everything we can to warm women and to catch him."