Results tagged “serialrapist”

Police believe they've apprehended the serial rapist responsible for four sexual assaults in Hamilton Heights since early August. The suspect is identified as 21-year-old Vincent Heyward, of 281 Edgecombe Avenue, just blocks from where the last sexual assault took place. According to police spokesman Paul Browne, officers approached Heyward on Tuesday around 12:30 a.m. because he resembled sketches of the rapist. Heyward agreed, telling the cops, "Yeah, that does look like me." He also consented to swab his cheek for DNA testing, then went on his way.

Police say a man who forced his way into a 28-year-old woman's apartment at St. Nicholas Avenue and 147th Street Monday night and raped her at knife point is the same perpetrator suspected in a series of Upper Manhattan sex assaults. Officers fanned out across Hamilton Heights last night to distribute fliers with surveillance photos and a police sketch of the suspect, and a $12,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. He's described as "a black male in his thirties, about 5-foot-9 to 6-feet tall, wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, and white sneakers with red stripes on the sole." The suspect was caught on camera on August 10 after raping a 23-year-old at West 144th Street and Convent Avenue, and through DNA investigators have linked him to two other rapes, of a 69-year-old woman and a 59-year-old. Residents in the area are considerably alarmed, and Hamilton Heights local Edna Kirk tells NY1, "I feel terrible. I'm just hoping he doesn't come to me. I feel awful bad about this and I hope they hurry up and catch this guy."

Police are looking for a man that they believe has committed three sexual assaults this month in Upper Manhattan. NY1 has newly released surveillance video of the man described as in his 30s, 5-feet-9-inches to 6-feet tall with a medium build. His latest attack came last week when he followed a 69-year-old woman into the elevator of her building at 158th Street and Riverside Drive and raped her—robbing her as well. The other two assaults took place in Hamilton Heights over the past few weeks, one also in an elevator at West 144th Street and Convent Avenue and the other in an alleyway at West 148th Street and Broadway. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "I would urge women to be particularly aware and alert when they frequent 24-hour shopping locations. We've seen this in the past, where people are lurking outside and following the women from the locations." One woman told NY1, "I have pepper spray on my keychain. I think my dog will let me know before I'm aware that [an attacker's] behind me. And I have something else that I'm not supposed to carry, but I carry it. That's basically it."

Police believe that a 69-year-old woman raped in her apartment building at 155th Street and Riverside Drive was attacked by the same man who raped two other women in Hamilton Heights earlier this month. The latest victim was returning home from work at 4 a.m. to 765 Riverside Drive; WCBS 2 reports, "The victim passed mailboxes on her way in through the east entrance of the building. Then [she] proceeded down the stairs to the wood-paneled foyer where her attacker was apparently waiting. The manned elevator is unmanned after 2 a.m., so she had to use the automatic elevator nearby. She opened the door and her attacker apparently crossed the room and followed her" into the elevator, where she was attacked. There's surveillance video of the suspect and the building's shocked residents are asking for additional security and lighting. In the past incidents, the suspect raped a woman in an alleyway near West 148th Street and Broadway and inside another's building near West 144 Street and Convent Avenue.