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University falls victim to 2 more sexual assaults |
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
by JULIA MERCHANT
Intern News Reporter
Two more sexual assaults occurred this past weekend on Appalachian State University’s campus.
Seven total sexual assaults have occurred on Appalachian’s campus in the past two months, according to University Police logs.
The most recent, University Police Chief Investigator Capt. Eddie
Rector said, took place early Saturday morning on the West Side of
campus. In this case, a female student is alleging sexual assault by an
acquaintance, Rector said.
The second sexual assault, which took place 8:30 p.m. Saturday evening, was committed by an unknown assailant, Rector said.
What worries police is that the description of the assailant closely matches that of two other known recent cases.
“The girl was walking through Sanford Mall from the library. [The suspect] approached, and the girl
fought back,” Rector said.
The assailant, who was described as wearing a “black, long-sleeved
hood-type shirt,” made a sexually-motivated statement to the girl, at
which point she fended off her attacker.
The perpetrator is described as male, but no one has yet been able to determine his ethnicity, Rector said.
His description is almost identical to that reported in the sexual
assault that took place March 20, in which an unknown assailant
attempted to pull a female student’s pants down as she was walking
between Smith-Wright Hall and Old Library Classroom Building.
Additionally, a similar suspect is wanted for a sexual assault that occurred on King Street in Boone over the weekend.
“The motive is all the same, which leads us to believe it’s the same
person. [In these cases] a person in a black hoodie approaches from
behind. If someone puts up any resistance, he flees,” Rector said.
“We definitely need the community’s help on this one.”
Rector said in order for students to protect themselves against sexual
assault, “the main thing is … don’t walk alone, especially at night.
Also, notify police if someone is suspicious, and don’t forget to use
the blue-light phones.”
Rector ventured the recent abrupt rise in sexual assault cases might
not be a rise at all – they may simply be more high profile because the
assailant is unknown to the victims. Rector stressed that there are
often many more sexual assaults by acquaintances than the police are
aware of.
That fact comes as little comfort to students like Ashley L. Colton, a
senior interdisciplinary studies major, who will continue to be as
cautious as possible while the assailant is still on the loose.
“The thought of some creep out there assaulting girls in places I
frequently walk through, like Sanford Mall and the library, is scary,”
Colton said. “I don’t think I’ll be walking alone around campus at
night for a while.”
Anyone with any information on the recent sexual assaults around campus is encouraged to contact University Police.
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