photo Courtesy RCPD
MANHATTAN —The Riley County Police Department along with the Lawrence Police Department continue their intensified efforts into solving multiple incidents of rape committed in both Manhattan and Lawrence since 2000 that appear to be connected.
On Tuesday, authorities released a sketch of an individual that may have been seen in the vicinity shortly before the first incident in October 2000.
In July police released new information about a serial rapist who is believed to have attacked 13 women from 2000 to 2008 in the college towns of Manhattan and Lawrence.
In a media release, police reported that in March of 2009, then Kansas Attorney General Steve Six announced that multiple incidents of rape committed over the course of eight years in both Manhattan and Lawrence appeared to be connected. These incidents began in October of 2000 and ended in December of 2008, involved the victimization of women in Manhattan and Lawrence, and all of them were students at either Kansas State University or the University of Kansas. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
Each incident involved a masked intruder entering the victim’s off-campus residence, mostly between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. as the victim slept, and all but one coincided with a break in the academic calendar. The residences themselves varied from apartment complexes to duplexes to single dwellings. While the point of entry was frequently identified, the means by which the suspect made entry were sometimes unknown. Many of the survivors reported having locked their door(s), yet there were no signs of forced entry. There were also indications that the survivors were surveilled by the assailant prior the incident. In all but two cases, the victim was alone.
The assailant was typically described as a white male between 5’9” and 6’0”, with various descriptions of build and estimations of weight and age. We have no confirmed description of the assailant from anyone other than the survivors of these crimes. In most cases a handgun was displayed, with which the assailant threatened the survivors as a means to gain compliance. While the physical violence of the assaults was usually limited to the rape itself, these were all violent acts carried out by an assailant who did so in a cold, calm, calculated manner.
Even before the Attorney General’s announcement in 2009, The Riley County Police Department and the Lawrence Police Department worked closely together to determine if these cases were related, and the join investigation ultimately established a number of similarities, and a lack of significant dissimilarities, existed between the incidents to conclude that they were likely committed by the same suspect. Nothing in their continued investigation since that time has suggested otherwise.
In the early morning hours on this date in 2015, an unknown assailant entered a residence in the 1400 block of Watson Place in Manhattan with the intent to commit a sexual assault against the female resident, a student attending Kansas State University. A lengthy investigation into the incident has led us to conclude that there is a high probability that the assailant is the same assailant from the previous cases. In 2015, he was described as a white male, approximately 5’10”, and heavier set, most noticeably around the stomach and thighs. The prominent stomach was a frequently mentioned characteristic from previous cases. As to age, we believe the assailant was at minimum 33 years old at the time of the 2015 incident based upon the dates of the previous incidents.
We are announcing this connection between the 2015 case and the previous cases for three reasons. First, given the nearly seven-year gap between December of 2008 and July of 2015, we would like to know if there have been similar, unreported incidents during that time span. We cannot say enough about the courageous women who have already stepped forward to provide vital information about their assailant. If anyone feels they had an encounter with an individual matching this description, please know that we want to hear from you, and we want to provide help for you. Your information, even if it is several years old, may help bring justice to all the survivors.
Anyone who recognizes the suspect is asked to contact Manhattan/Riley County Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-Tips