Police searching for rape suspect

Staff report

Youngstown

City police are investigating a reported kidnapping and rape of a 20-year-old woman.

A man in a passing car found the victim, who has no known address, wandering down neighborhood streets on Youngstown’s South Side Sunday night.

The passerby told police she was naked from the waist down and only wearing a bra-type top on her upper body. He said she was staggering and falling to the ground, so he helped her into his truck and tried to take her to the hospital.

While en route to the hospital the victim told the man that she’d been walking on an unknown city street several days ago when a black male in a truck pulled over and forced her inside, a police report said.

She said the man began to choke and beat her before driving to an abandoned home in Youngstown where he dragged her inside and tied her up, according to the report.

The victim said the man attempted to rape her several times. It’s unclear how she escaped the house.

The passerby told police the woman was combative and hysterical and refused to get out of his car at the hospital on Sunday, so he took her back to his home in Campbell to give her food and clothing.

He said he was able to convince her to go to St. Elizabeth Health Center Tuesday where the police were called to take statements. The victim told police she was attacked, and a rape kit was administered.

Police are still searching for a suspect.