Saturday, March 25, 2000
Rape cases seem to differ
Condom used in Ft. Thomas attack
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT THOMAS — Police are studying whether there are any similarities between a man who raped a woman in Fort Thomas and one who has raped women in northern Cincinnati.
Initially, there appear to be key differences.
The Fort Thomas suspect used a condom, leaving detectives without semen to identify in the first home-invasion rape Fort Thomas has seen in years. That's one aspect of the case that makes it different from the serial rapes being studied by investigators in Mason, Mont gomery and Colerain Township.
But officials still will meet todaywith an expert to talk about a possible connection.
“We don't want to rule anything out or anything in at this point,” Fort Thomas Sgt. Rich Whitford said Friday. “There are some similarities, but there are some differences, too.”
Another difference: The Fort Thomas victim told police the man spoke kindly to her during the rape.
“He kept reassuring her that she would not be harmed,” Sgt. Whitford said. “That's a different M.O.”
The woman was attacked a little after 8 a.m. as she returned home from taking her children to school. She was just inside her doorway when her attacker knocked her to the floor, police said, put something over her eyes so she couldn't see very well and tied her hands. The man did not have a weapon.
After the attack, the woman was forced to shower. After her attacker left, she drove herself to St. Luke Hospital East, where officials called police.
Friday, detectives spent hours following up hundreds of calls their dispatch center had taken since news broke about the rape Thursday afternoon.
Sgt. Whitford also checked with places like the water company to see if any service representatives in the area might have seen anything.
The suspect is described as 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, about 160 pounds, with dark hair and possibly a receding hairline, Sgt. Whitford said. The woman also told police she thinks the man was clean-shaven and wore a brown coat or brown fleece jacket with light blue jeans.
Police ask that anyone with information about the rape or about anything suspicious Thursday morning in the area of Memorial Parkway and Waterworks Road call Sgt. Whitford or Detective Mike Daly at 441-0300.
“We're following up on a million things,” Sgt. Whitford said. “But we still want more. People sometimes say they don't want to bother the police with something that might not be important. This time, we want to be bothered.”
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