USA TODAY International Edition
Police: Serial kidnapper strikes again
WILMINGTON Police believe a man who reportedly tried to abduct a woman at gunpoint at a Delaware apartment Monday evening is the same person who kidnapped, robbed and sexually assaulted women in two separate incidents in February. The attacker remains at large. The victim Monday told responding officers that a man wearing a mask and dark clothing approached her as she walked to her home at the Preserve at Deacons Walk apartments in Pike Creek, Del., near Newark, according to a statement from the New Castle County ( Del.) Police Department. Pike Creek is about 16 miles west of Wilmington, Del.
The man then pulled out a gun and demanded money as he forced her to the entrance of her apartment, police said. As they arrived at her unit, another resident answered the door, prompting the man to flee, according to police.
The attacker in previous, similar incidents — which police believe are linked — had been described as a Caucasian man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, who spoke with a “distinct” accent.
After conducting the initial investigation Monday night, officers concluded that the perpe- trator is the same person who attacked women at two other northern Delaware apartment buildings.
On Feb. 19, a woman at the Arundel Apartments, also in Pike Creek, was approached by a masked man who, like in Monday’s attack, forced her to her apartment and demanded money, according to police. He then physically and sexually assaulted her inside the apartment, according to reports. After the assault, he forced her back to her vehicle, and drove her to multiple ATMs in order to withdraw cash, police said.
After stops at the ATMs, the woman escaped and called 911, according to police. She was taken to a hospital where she was treated and released with non- life- threatening injuries.
The attack also mirrors a kidnapping that occurred Feb. 13 at Top of the Hill Apartments in Holly Oak, Del., according to county police. In that case, an armed man approached a woman, forced her into her own vehicle before driving to a nearby ATM, where she withdrew an undisclosed amount of cash, according to police.
During the hour- and- a- half incident, the man hit the woman in the face and held conversations with himself about his plans for the woman, police said. He then sexually assaulted the woman while inside the vehicle, according to reports.