Assault reawakens fears
Police tell residents to take precautions
By JENN FARRELL
JennFarrell@coloradoan.com
Temperatures are warming up, and Fort Collins residents have started opening their windows to let the breeze in.
But an incident Friday and another sexual assault earlier this month are reawakening thoughts of the danger that lurked last summer when six Fort Collins women were sexually assaulted in their homes.
Until Friday, police could only speculate on whether the suspect had moved on or if the warmer weather would bring him, and his crimes, back into the public eye. Although police currently do not have physical evidence linking the man in the Friday morning attempted assault of a 19-year-old woman, they are looking into the possibility that it's the same person.
In Friday's attack, a Colorado State University student, returned to her apartment in Ram's Pointe, 2250 W. Elizabeth St. around 3 a.m. She was planning to leave again and didn't lock the door behind her.
The man got into her home and grabbed her.
The woman fought, freed herself from the man and screamed, and the man left.
Once again, yellow police crime-scene tape stretched along an apartment balcony and around the front door. And like last year, the victim's description of her attacker was similar -- a stocky, dark-haired male with a dark complexion, about 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall who smelled of cigarettes.
Effie Papanastasiou, a CSU sophomore who lives near Friday's assault, said she heard about last year's assaults in the fall as she was moving into her apartment.
"I thought it was all over," she said.
Earlier this month, on April 5, a CSU student was sexually assaulted around 2 a.m. in a bathroom in Westfall Hall.
CSU police have said they do not know of any link between that case and any other crimes in Fort Collins, including last summer's sexual assaults. They also do not believe there is a link to the April 5 sexual assault and Friday's attack.
But the two incidents are reminders to Fort Collins community members of the need to watch out for their safety.
"Although the woman was not seriously physically injured, it is a reminder to all of us in Fort Collins about the importance of awareness of personal safety," read an alert CSU e-mailed to students, faculty and staff. "Since warm weather is returning, we want to also remind the community to always lock your windows and doors when you are home and when you are out."
Prior to the assaults, Fort Collins police had started putting alerts into the city's April utility bills. Those bills are a reminder that the serial sexual assault suspect still has not been found.
Even if the same person does not return to the community, someone else might take an opportunity to commit a similar crime.
"He may be in the area," Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis
"America's Most Wanted," the television show known for catching criminals, has been working on a segment on the assaults, but Fort Collins police still are awaiting word on when the segment will air.
"Unfortunately, this happened," Davis said. "Our community was shaken last year by the sexual assaults."
Fort Collins residents put their guard up last summer. They locked their doors and shut their windows, despite stifling heat. They bought window locks and at least one woman armed herself with a handgun.
In September, DNA linked the Fort Collins assaults to six assaults and a homicide in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia assaults occurred between June 1997 and August 1999. During an assault on May 7, 1998, Shannon Schieber, 23, was strangled and killed.
When the link was made, police released composite sketches created by the Philadelphia victims. None of the Fort Collins victims, including the woman assaulted Friday, were able to get a good enough look at the man to create a sketch.
Last year, Fort Collins police created a task force to investigate the sexual assaults. Sometime after the last attack, the task force as a whole stopped working, but investigators continued looking at the cases throughout the fall and winter, Davis said.
Police again are stepping up surveillance and are continuing to work on the cases, Davis said.
"We need to remain vigilant to our personal safety," Davis said.
