Police from Greensboro and Winston-Salem are investigating six recent sexual assault cases that may be related. The alleged serial rapist targets women in their twenties living alone, several of whom are students. In the first Greensboro case, a man broke into a Woodstream Lane apartment around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 14, and assaulted the woman living there alone. The second attack occurred Feb. 1 on Mayflower Drive near the UNCG campus. The man fled after a brief struggle. Two of the four Winston-Salem victims are Wake Forest University Students.
Kara Simpson, a Guilford junior who lives in a Woodstream apartment, was shocked when she turned on the news and saw reporters in her neighborhood.
“Ever since then I’ve seen some police with dogs walking through the woods, probably looking for evidence,” Simpson said. “I feel safe having neighbors, but someone could get raped next to me and I wouldn’t know.”
Police report that the attacker enters apartments through unlocked doors or windows. Because the six women all live alone, investigators believe that the attacker may shadow their victims beforehand.
“(He) may watch them come and go for several days before (he) does anything,” said Gary Hastings, commander of the Greensboro Police Department’s criminal-investigations division. “One can almost deduct that he likely spends some time in the area before he commits the crime.”
The attacker who may be responsible for the sexual assaults has been described as a man who speaks with a Hispanic accent, wears dark clothes and covers his face. In some of the cases the attacker carried a handgun.
Police say women should lock their doors and windows, and call 911 if they notice any suspicious activity around their home.
“Make sure your windows are clear of bushes and structures people can hide around,” said Lt. George Holder of the Greensboro Police. For women who live alone and don’t have a dog, a UNCG student suggested that buying a “Beware of Dog” sign is worth the one-dollar investment.
Georgia Kennedy, a first-year at UNCG, said that the way the university informed students was “practically a joke.”
“I don’t think they did a very good job of alerting people,” said Kennedy. “They put up safety bulletins that you wouldn’t notice any more than a concert flyer.”
In an unrelated incident, Guilford students living in Friendly Hills saw an intoxicated man masturbating in front of their apartment and called the police. The police did not arrest the man because they did not catch him in the act, but they escorted him off the premises.
Junior Julie Sloane saw the man, and called another student living in Friendly Hills, who then called the cops.
“He had a beer in one hand and a penis in the other,” said Sloane. “The reassuring thing is that the police were here within five minutes, although they couldn’t do that much.”
“We lock our doors now,” said senior Ashley Ross, who also lives in Friendly Hills. “After something like that happens you definitely feel like your safety is at stake.”
Sloane said that although the incident was alarming when it happened, she views it now with humor.
Ross feels safe in her neighborhood.
“There are stricter security measures on campus,” Ross said. “There is sketchy stuff that happens but Guilford feels safe.