Police: Second Attack on Woman Reported at Raleigh Park

A man attacked a 22-year-old jogger from behind on the evening of Wednesday, March 31, police said. Her assailant twice hit her in the head with a rock, but ran away when she screamed.

WRAL has learned that the same man might have assaulted another woman near Lake Lynn a week before the jogger was attacked.

"The woman reported that she was grabbed by the suspect near her residence," Jim Sughrue, a spokesman for Raleigh police, said.

The jogger who was assaulted and other park-goers said they want to know why police did not get the word out about the first attack.

"If I had known that, I don't think that I would have been out there that day," said the jogger, who spoke via phone to WRAL and asked to not be identified.

Sughrue said no evidence immediately connected the incidents.

"There was nothing about it (the first assault) that really made that case stand out," Sughrue said.

Police have been placed on special assignment at Lake Lynn, and park-goers said they are staying on high alert.

"If I'm going to be out here a lot by myself, I might take more precautions," jogger Erin Kuczmarski said.

Police reported seven assaults at Raleigh parks in the first quarter of this year – up from six during all of 2007.