Rape suspects at large

Police are actively pursuing two suspects, one of whom is

accused of assaulting and raping a Fort Collins woman who was

picked up early Saturday morning, driven to a location north of the

city and sexually assaulted.

The other suspect was a passenger in the car.

According to Charles, the 23-year-old victim’s father, whose

last name is being withheld for privacy reasons, the victim went

out with some friends in downtown Fort Collins after work on

Saturday. After drinking, the friends rode their bikes home,

“fooling around and racing” their bikes on the way back.

Charles said that around 2 a.m. Saturday the victim was

separated from her group of friends and ended up wrecking her bike.

She left her bike in some shrubs and was on her way home on West

Myrtle Street when a white, four-door, mid-sized import car

approached her.

“She trusts everybody. She got in,” Charles said.

The victim got in the strangers’ car for a ride home. There were

two men in the car.

Without her knowing, the men drove to a remote location on

Shields Street, north out of town. The men stopped the car near a

location, where ponds surrounded the area, and parked, Charles

said.

After “slapping and slugging” the victim in the face, the driver

committed sexual assault on the victim, Charles said. At one point

during the attack, the victim passed out.

“They kicked her out (of the car) with her pants around her

ankles,” Charles said.

Bruised and battered, the victim wandered around looking for

help. A good Samaritan spotted the female and drove her home upon

her request.

This man’s identity is unknown, and the police are still looking

for him.

Later in the morning, the victim’s boyfriend took her to the

police and the hospital, with a bag of her clothes from the attack

in tow.

“(Police) have possible evidence,” Charles said.

Police have released the description of the two men in the car.

They are both described as black males in their 20s. The driver is

said to be about 6 feet tall, slightly overweight with short black

hair. He was wearing a dark T-shirt with dark-colored denim

pants.

The passenger is said to be approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall,

with a medium build dressed in a T-shirt and dark-denim pants as

well. The victim said he was wearing a solid white bandana over his

head and had sideburns down to his ear lobes.

Fort Collins Police Services has released a composite sketch of

the passenger and is investigating the two men and the car they

were driving.

“This case is currently under investigation and no further

information is available,” said Al Brown, FCPS spokesman.

Capt. Bob Chaffee with the CSU Police Department said his

department has been alerted of the incident and does have the

suspects’ physical descriptions and of the car they were in.

Chaffee said it is difficult to “second-guess” the victim’s

actions, but it is important to remember common-sense tactics.

“We can go back to what our mother’s and father’s used to say:

‘Don’t get in the car with strangers,’ but I don’t think the victim

needs that smeared in her face,” Chaffee said.

Charles was out Wednesday circulating fliers of the sketch.

Local companies printed 2,000 free leaflets and another 2,000 are

on the way, he said.

“Let’s get the guy and get him off the street. Rapists do not

stop,” Charles said.

Charles is looking for volunteers to help pass out fliers and

urges anyone interested to e-mail him at

ourlittlegirlfc@aol.com.

“It would be real easy to crawl into a hole, but that is not

going to solve anything,” Charles said.