Man forces woman, 21, into Upper West Side stairwell before raping her and threatening to ‘kill if she didn’t comply’ as cops launch hunt for attacker

• Cops are now on the hunt for the unidentified perpetrator, who was captured on security camera shortly after the attack – which happened at 1:20am Saturday
•  According to investigators, the man followed the young woman into her building near West 65th Street and West End Avenue before forcing her into the stairwell
• Cops are now on the hunt for the unidentified perpetrator – a black male described as a 5’8′ approximately 150-lbs, and believed to be in his 30s 

A man has allegedly raped a 21-year-old woman in the stairwell of her New York City apartment building – while threatening to kill her if she did not comply.

Cops are now on the hunt for the unidentified perpetrator, who was captured on security camera shortly after the attack, that happened just after 1am Saturday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

According to investigators, the man followed the young woman into her building, located near West 65th Street and West End Avenue, and into its elevator.

At that point, the suspect – a black man described as a 5’8′ approximately 150-lbs and believed to be in his 30s – forced the woman out of the elevator and into the stairwell, where he carried out the rape.

Allegedly threatening her life throughout the entirety of the altercation, the stranger is said to have forced his victim back out of the building and into the pouring rain, before fleeing the scene in an unknown direction.

Scroll down for video: 

A still-at-large suspect allegedly raped a 21-year-old woman in the stairwell of her New York City apartment building – threatening to kill her if she did not comply.

Cops are now on the hunt for the unidentified perpetrator, who was captured on security camera shortly after the attack – which happened just after 1 am Saturday

‘It was reported to police that on Saturday, March 4, 2023, at approximately 1:20 am, an unknown male individual followed a 21-year-old female into a building in the vicinity of West End Avenue and West 65th Street,’ the NYPD said Sunday morning. 

‘Once inside, the individual followed the victim into an elevator and then forced her out of the elevator and into a stairwell where he raped her. 

‘The individual then forced the victim outside of the building and fled the location,’ cops added, revealing, that the victim was taken to an area hospital. The extent of the woman’s injuries, as well as her identity, remain unreported as of 11:30am.

Surveillance video captured outside the woman’s residence – as well as inside the stairwell itself – showed the suspected attacker directly after the attack.

Now being circulated to citizens across the five boroughs, one snippet show the suspect ditching his jacket despite teeming rain seen that night, tossing it over a fence before walking away.

It is not immediately clear where exactly the short clip was captured, though cops confirmed it was near the woman’s residence in the affluent neighborhood.

Surveillance video captured outside the woman’s residence shows the suspected attacker directly after the attack

The recording shows that the slim, dark-skinned man had been wearing a black jacket – with he ditched – as well as a gray sweatshirt and black pants

Another still released by cops, snapped in the stairwell where the woman underwent her ordeal, showed the alleged attacker’s face, shrouded with his hood as he presumably made his escape. 

Both recordings show that the slim man had been wearing a black jacket – with he ditched – as well as a gray sweatshirt and black pants. Cops Sunday said that the woman did not see which direction in which the man fled.

Authorities are now asking New Yorkers to keep their eyes peeled for the attacker, and contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers taskforce with any information relevant to the case.

The incident serves as the latest in a string of rapes plaguing the Big Apple, with the largely residential Upper West Side in particular surfacing as a hotbed for such attacks.

In January, 74-year-old  Maria Hernandez, who lived in a one-bedroom apartment on West 83rd Street, was raped and killed by a man who broke into her home. 

Police said they found the senior’s home ransacked after receiving a call from her sister who came across Hernandez’s body, which had bruising on her face, arms and back. 

Cops Sunday said that the woman did not see which direction in which the man fled

Now being circulated to citizens across the five boroughs, the video shows the man ditching his jacket despite teeming rain seen that night, tossing it over a fence before walking away

Shortly thereafter, cops determined she had been strangled to death, and that there were signs of severe sexual abuse. Less than a week later, cops cuffed Lashawn Mackey, 47, and Terrence Moore, 53, for the crime.

Mackey, a fill-in maintenance man at the building, and Moore, a Brooklyn man with a prior conviction for second-degree murder and robbery, have both pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder, aggravated sexual abuse, and burglary.

Then, in November, not far from the scene of the recent rape, another woman was almost sexually assaulted at around 5:15pm in Riverside Park near West 87th Street, but was saved after members of the public who witnessed the attack called 911, resulting in the arrest of the suspect.

The 25-year-old suspect was later identified as Christopher Cedeno, a resident of a nearby supportive housing facility for formerly homeless veterans. Cops added at the time that the suspect had been known to police and had been arrested before.

The incident serves as the latest in a string of rapes plaguing the Big Apple, with the largely residential Upper West Side in particular surfacing as a hotbed for such attacks 

Similarly, that same month, a 43-year-old woman was raped, choked and robbed while running around 5:30 am along Pier 45.

The suspect grabbed her from behind and choked her until she lost consciousness, police said. 

Cops later took into custody a 29-year-old homeless man, after he used stolen credit cards at a Target in Midtown. He has since been charged with both rape and assault.

Source: Read Full Article