Woman reported man wearing skull mask in attempted robbery at north Raleigh home

A pet-sitting job in a north Raleigh neighborhood turned into a horrific ordeal for a woman assaulted in an armed robbery attempt Friday night, according to a 911 call released Wednesday.

"Thank God I'm alive. He didn't try and kidnap me, but he did kick me to the ground, and I am bleeding and bruised," the woman said in the call. "I'm just doing my job, and he came and attacked me."

Wake County sheriff's investigators say in a search warrant made public Monday that the woman was with a dog in the driveway of a north Raleigh home on Wynneford Way around 9 p.m. Friday when a skinny, light-skinned black man wearing a mask, cape and old pair of gray sneakers put his arm around her and told her in a deep raspy voice to stay calm.

In the 911 call, she said the man was wearing a skeleton mask and that he forced her to go with him to the upstairs of her client's home while he looked for jewelry.

Afterward, the woman said, he took her outside, pushed her to the ground and kicked her when she refused to give him her keys. She managed to get away and drove to a gas station on Falls of Neuse Road for help.

"Thank God he didn't try to rape me or anything like that," she said in the 911 call.

Authorities are still looking for the man and are also investigating whether he is the same person responsible for four armed robberies in northwest Raleigh that occurred in the week leading up to the Sept. 27 Wynneford Way crime. (View the map below for locations and details of all the crimes.)

In several of the prior cases, victims reported that a black man armed with a handgun approached them while they were either getting out of or walking from their cars. The man either robbed them or forced them to drive to ATMs to withdraw cash, then let them out and abandoned their vehicles near or at their homes.

In one case, at a home on Collins Drive on Sept. 23, the robber forced his way into the victim's home when her husband opened the door after hearing screams in the driveway. Raleigh police say the robber held them at gunpoint and stole money, jewelry and other items in addition to driving them to an ATM.

In another case on Pleasant Valley Road on Sept. 22, a man was assaulted, police said.

In two of the robberies, the man was wearing all black, a motorcycle helmet with a full-face shield, motorcycle-style jacket and gloves. In a third, he was wearing all black except for an orange and yellow jacket with a turtleneck covering his face.

Related or not, the crimes have Raleigh residents unsettled.

"We're all a little antsy," said Jill Barnette, a local real estate agent who lives in the Lakeland Woods Richland Valley subdivision, located near two of the robberies. "We all have our eyes and ears open."

The crimes have encouraged people who live in the vicinity to watch who is coming and going in their neighborhoods and to write down license tag numbers for police.

"The neighborhood watch is on full alert," said Tracy Behar. "We're actually working well in hand to work together to communicate individuals who should or should not be here."

View Northwest Raleigh armed robberies in a larger map