Police Hand Out Flyers In Search For Miami Rapist
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Police have stepped up their efforts to find a man who raped a woman in broad daylight.
Wednesday morning, they handed out flyers with the sketch of the man in the area where the attack happened at NE 86th Street and NE 9th Avenue.
As that happened, two neighbors said they recognized the man in the sketch and one neighbor said she
thought he had been staking out their neighborhood.
"I do believe I have seen him before, just by the way he was walking and the way he was dressed and
everything," said Sandra Morris.
She told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "I remember him walking around and definitely thinking he was casing
our neighborhood. I have also seen his car before and I initially thought he was visiting over the holidays.
I'm going to be very careful every time I see a dark. I have to look to see if it might be him."
Morris said "His walk was kind of arrogant. He was walking like he didn't care."
Miami Police had said the rapist has a "distinctive walk."
"It's terrible and I think we are all very on edge about it and we just want to see him taken off the streets to make sure he doesn't do it again," said Ginger Vela, who lives in the area.
When Claudia Garcia saw the flyer she said she immediately recognized the man in the sketch.
"I saw someone who looked just like that the other day, right across the street and that house is abandoned," said Garcia pointing to an empty home.
She and other neighbors are shaken and on high alert.
"It's crazy. It was like right there. I have to be more on the look out, on the look out," said Garcia. "Lock the doors immediately as soon as I get to the car, look around, never stay texting."
It was 9:20 in the morning on December 30 when investigators say a man jumped into the passenger seat of a parked car, forced the woman in the driver's seat to the backseat, drove a few blocks away and raped her.
The woman was also robbed at gunpoint, according to police.
"I'm terrified, especially when I'm walking alone," said Ruchira Setheia.
Security video captured the man leaving the scene and detectives think he was driving a dark blue or black late model Chevrolet Impala with dark tinted windows and chrome rims.
Detectives think there may be more victims out there.
"This is not a beginner's crime. This man takes pleasure in someone else's fear, which is among the most dangerous people in society, so we want to make sure we put him behind bars as quickly as possible," said Miami police Officer Rene Pimentel.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, who represents the district in which the attack happened, believes someone saw something and urges any witnesses to come forward immediately.
"We have to start telling something. There's nothing wrong with being a snitch. There's nothing wrong with picking up the phone," said Edmonson.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).
