Jogger attacked on bikeway; suspect nabbed
THIS IS WHY CONCEALED CARRY ON PUBLIC PROPERTY IS PROTECTED. 96% OF RAPISTS DO NOT USE FIREARMS. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO TAKE AWAY THIS WOMAN'S ABILITY TO DEFEND HERSELF???
June 11, 2004
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | Attacked on a bikeway under a bridge, her cries drowned out by construction noise, the jogger battled her knife-wielding attacker for 20 minutes.
"She did fight him back," Dayton police Sgt. Tom Flanders said. "She actually wore him down."
On Thursday, two days after the attack, the woman picked a suspect out of a police lineup, Flanders said. Police will confer with prosecutors today about charges, he said.
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The woman, 24, was running about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday on the bikeway across the Great Miami River from downtown. The man lunged at her under the Interstate 75 overpass, Flanders said.
He cut some of her clothes off but she fought, eventually grabbed his knife and ran away. As she ran up the trail, some people walking heard her yelling for help, and her attacker fled, Flanders said.
The woman was sexually assaulted during the attack, but Flanders declined to give details. She said she did not know her attacker, he said.
During the attack, noise from a nearby construction crew drowned out the woman's cries for help as she wrestled with the man. She fought unheard by people less than 100 yards away, Flanders said.
Detectives found the knife at the scene, Flanders said.
Investigators' canines tracked the suspect's scent from the scene, just below Riverview Avenue, five blocks to a rooming house in the 100 block of Neal Avenue. People there told police a man matching the attacker's description lived in one of the rooms, Flanders said.
The suspect, who will turn 33 Monday, was arrested at his home Wednesday, Flanders said.
The man is not an active suspect in other cases, but detectives are reviewing files for similarities. His DNA will be run through the national database to see if it matches unsolved crimes, Flanders said.
Flanders warned that people should jog in pairs, if possible, and should avoid wearing radio headphones, which make it hard to hear anything suspicious. The victim was wearing a headset before the attack, Flanders said.
She suffered cuts and bruises.
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