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Did a Sexual Assailant Find His Victim on Twitter?
Photo by YKita via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Police are investigating the creepy possibility that a sexual assailant used Twitter to find his victim.
On Halloween afternoon, a man jumped out of the bushes and sexually assaulted a woman finishing up a stroll through Elysian Park. She managed to escape and the suspect fled. Now police are asking for the public's help finding the suspect — but they're also investigating the possibility that he found his victim on Twitter.
Not long before her attack, the woman posted on Twitter where she was as she was walking back to her vehicle parked near Stadium Way and Academy Road, according to The Eastsider LA. She also told police that she recognized the suspect from a previous visit to the park, but undercover officers haven't had any luck finding him.
Police haven't said exactly how Twitter might have factored into this crime. Could the assailant have been scanning tweets in the area and looking for a woman who said she was alone? Or was this assailant stalking this particular woman and waiting for word that she was back at the park and all alone? For right now police are just saying that they're investigating the possibility that her location update had anything to do with the sexual assault.
The suspect is described as a Latino male in his 30s with black hair, brown eyes and between 5′-8" to 5′-10" tall. There haven't been any other sexual assaults reported in the park, police told The Eastsider. Anyone with information should call LAPD at (213) 847-5454.
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