Rapes lead to warning for women

Both suspects likely live in the area being targeted, investigators say.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A series of rapes on the South Side has police warning women to not venture out alone after dark.
Three rapes and two attempted rapes have been reported since mid-September in the general area bordered by Glenwood Avenue, Midlothian Boulevard, West Indianola Avenue and Market Street, Lt. Robin Lees, Youngstown Police Department spokesman, said Tuesday.
Another sexual attack occurred in June on West Princeton Avenue just west of Hillman Street.
Lees said unaccompanied women should not be out after dark on the upper South Side and should always be aware of their surroundings. He said women should avoid secluded areas, bushes and alleys.
Rape victims should not shower or take a bath afterward or wash their clothes, Lees said. Victims, after calling police, should go to a hospital for a rape examination.
Two suspects
The Street Crimes Unit and officers working Weed and Seed details are concentrating their efforts in the target area, he said. Investigators believe two black men, working independently, likely live on the South Side and may be doing surveillance of the women before they rape them.
Lees said one suspect is short and in his late teens with a baby face; the other is 30 to 40 years old and tall and thin. He said the two are likely responsible for four of the attacks, in which women were grabbed and forced into a yard and raped.
Of the six attacks, Crisis Intervention Unit investigators Scott Steinhauser and Sue Ellis believe the first two reported rapes were drug-related. The victims from those events are not cooperating, the YPD officers said.
Call with information
Steinhauser and Ellis have two suspects in mind but not enough evidence yet to obtain warrants. Anyone who has information about the crimes is asked to call the investigators at (330) 743-8812. After 4 p.m., call 911.
Here's where the attacks occurred:
ULast Saturday, around 10 p.m., back yard, 2700 block of Hudson Avenue. A 29-year-old woman told police she was grabbed when she walked out her back door. The tall, thin assailant wore red clothing and a blue hooded jacket commonly called a hoodie. She said he put a gun to her head, knocked her to the ground and raped her.
UOct. 15, around 8 p.m., 500 block of West Judson Avenue. A 15-year-old girl who had been walking home after visiting a friend was grabbed by a short, skinny teenage boy wearing a dark hoodie. She was pulled between two houses. She yelled as loud as she could and kicked and scratched the assailant, who kicked her in the head and face. A neighbor heard the commotion, turned on lights and pounded on a window, telling the attacker to stop. He ran.
UOct. 7, around 2:40 a.m., in the 3000 block of Firnley Avenue. A 35-year-old woman said she had been out with a neighbor and was startled in her back yard by a teenage boy who grabbed her by the throat and forced her to an area near the garage. The boy forced her to perform oral sex and threatened to kill her if she looked at him.
USept. 15, at 11 p.m., in the 100 block of West Boston Avenue. An 18-year-old woman, walking home after leaving a store, said a man approached, asking if he could walk with her. He then grabbed her around the neck, punched her in the head and dragged her down the driveway of an abandoned house and into the rear yard, where he raped her. The assailant was described as a short 19-year-old wearing a blue hoodie.
USept. 14, at 12:15 a.m., in the 400 block of Almyra Avenue. A 27-year-old Canfield woman said she went to a house to pick up a friend who needed a ride. She told police she was grabbed by a man who had been in a car parked in the driveway. She said she was forced into his car and sexually attacked in the 400 block of West Ravenwood Avenue but was able to escape from the car. The assailant was described as a 40-year-old, 6-foot black man with a full beard and mustache.
UJune 21, at 9:45 p.m. on West Princeton Avenue just West of Hillman Street. A 32-year-old woman told police she went to pick up a friend at an address on West Princeton and knocked at the door of what she believed to be the correct house. She said a man who answered the door grabbed her by the hair, punched her and tore her dress as he fondled her. The woman said she kicked him in the crotch and was able to escape. Her purse was grabbed during the attack.
Lees said the series of rapes is similar in significance to a South Side rape spree in the mid-1990s that took place mostly in the Idlewood Avenue area. Two men were prosecuted for the crimes and remain in prison.