The News Room [News Release]

Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-213-5162
Release Date: Friday, November 10, 2006

Sheriff seeks public's help in finding two Highland park rape suspects

Men allegedly dragged woman into a car and sexually assaulted her

  Wayne County Sheriff Warren C. Evans is asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating two suspects in an abduction and rape case involving a 17-year-old Detroit girl late last month in the city of Highland Park. A third suspect has been questioned and released pending further investigation.

  Evans released artist sketches today of the two at-large suspects. They are described as black males, approximately 17-19 year old with dark complexion and slim builds. One of the suspects has short matted or twisted hair and a three-inch scar on the right side of his face, near his eye. The other suspect has short brushed wavy hair, a large nose, and distinctive ears. According to their victim, both men had been seen previously outside the Highland Park Career Academy, near Glendale and Second Avenue.

The Crime

  At approximately 8:30 am on October 25 th, the victim had just gotten off a city bus at Woodward and Glendale on her way to the Career Academy. As she crossed through a store parking lot on Woodward and began walking on Glendale, a car with three young African American men pulled up along side her. The driver asked her to come closer, but she kept walking. One of the men then got out of the passenger’s door, grabbed her and dragged her into the car, which then sped off to an alley, located near Second Avenue and Monterey.

  Two of the suspects forced her to perform sex acts on them while the driver of the vehicle held her at gunpoint. After the assault, the men pushed her out of the car and into the alley and sped off.

  Later that day, sheriff’s deputies on patrol in Highland Park spotted
a vehicle matching the description the victim had given of the suspect’s car (a gray Hyundai with a California license plate) and approached the vehicle. That individual has been questioned and released pending the results of DNA testing. According to the victim’s account this individual was one of the two involved in the sexual assault.

  “Currently we are trying to identify and locate the two other individuals, one of whom sexually assaulted the young woman and the other who allegedly held her at gunpoint,” Evans said. “If these men would do this to someone so blatantly in broad daylight, they are a high risk to do it again, so it is important that we find them.”

  Even though one suspect reportedly did not have sex with the victim, based on his role, he still can be charged with first degree criminal sexual contact, Evans said. If convicted of the crime, each suspect could face life in prison.

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