FAYETTEVILLE — Hoke County law enforcers, as they search for clues in the Brittany Locklear case, are finding out just how frustrating it can be to know there's a criminal on the loose. It's something Fayetteville police have been dealing with for a year now.

They're still searching for a sexual predator who attacked several young girls last year. Still, they say, the tips just trickle in.

Thirteen tacks dot the Fayetteville/Cumberland County map in investigator C.T. Williams' office. Each represents a rape, an attempted rape, or an assault by the suspect pictured in the composite at left. Police say he's a sexual predator who has targeted young white women since December, 1995.

In October, a man fitting the suspect's description grabbed a 15-year-old girl from a Fayetteville bus stop, tried to rape her at knife point in the woods, but failed when she managed to escape. With so much attention focused on Locklear's murder in Hoke County, the question of similarities has come up, and been virtually ruled out.

Police sent out a mass mailing about the suspects and tips were poured in for a while, but the tip lines now sit silent.

Police just hope someone can come forward and get this predator off the streets before he strikes again.

Anyone who has information on any incident that could involve the Fayetteville/Cumberland County sexual predator, is asked to call Crimestoppers at910 483-TIPS.

Photographer:Mike Joyner