Philadelphia Daily News
Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Center City rapist eyed in Colo. case

Cops: Attempted to assault college student

By NICOLE WEISENSEE EGAN,
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Fort Collins, Colo. police believe the "Center City Rapist" may have struck in their area again.

A 19-year-old Colorado State University student was attacked in her apartment around 3 a.m. on April 12, police said.

She screamed and was able to free herself from her attacker, who fled through her front door. She immediately called police and gave them a description of her assailant.

Fort Collins cops are now sifting through evidence they collected from the crime scene, including fingerprints, but are awaiting the results before officially deciding whether her case is related.

"Right now, we're assuming it's the same guy - just because we don't know it's not," said Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department.

"We're erring on the side of caution."

The victim said she had been out and returned to her apartment around 3 a.m. to change clothes and prepare for a trip out of town. She walked into her apartment through the front door, where a male and female were home asleep at the time.

A man grabbed her from behind. She screamed and struggled free, he fled and she locked the door behind him. She was not sexually assaulted but received minor injuries during the struggle, police said.

The victim said her attacker was a white male with a dark complexion, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, with a stocky build, short 3/4-inch-length coarse, dark hair and a "scruffy" face. He had a strong odor of cigarette smoke on his hands and clothing.

Last September, DNA evidence linked Philadelphia's Center City Rapist to six sexual assaults last summer near the Colorado State University campus.

Since June 1997, the serial attacker has sexually assaulted five women in Philadelphia and killed one, Wharton School student Shannon Schieber. His last victim in Philadelphia was attacked in August 1999. *