Local News

Police release sketch of Fayetteville rape suspect

Police said Tuesday that two women reported being raped over the weekend, but investigators said the assaults don't appear to be related.

Posted 2012-06-07T19:39:55+00:00 - Updated 2012-06-07T19:30:00+00:00

Fayetteville police are looking for a man who raped a woman in a park near Bragg Boulevard on June 3, 2012.

Police on Thursday released a sketch of a man wanted in connection with a weekend rape.

A 37-year-old woman was stopped in her car on Bragg Boulevard in the Haymount neighborhood at about 3 p.m. Sunday when a man brandishing a knife walked up to the vehicle, threatened her and climbed in the back seat, police said. The man forced her to drive to a nearby park, where he took her into the woods and sexually assaulted her, police said.

The man was described as black, in his 20s to mid-30s, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall and 170 to 180 pounds. He had shoulder-length dreadlocks, facial hair and appeared dirty and unkempt. He was wearing a green long-sleeve shirt and dark-colored work pants and black work boots.

Anyone who recognizes the sketch is asked to call police at 910-433-1352 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).

Another woman was raped earlier Sunday near the Department of Social Services office on Ramsey Street, but police said they don't believe the two incidents are related.