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Serial rapist using app to find victims on Detroit's west side

Posted at 5:49 PM, Sep 19, 2018
and last updated 2019-06-06 08:31:39-04

Editor's note: This story was published in September 2018 and has no relation to the June 2019 announcement of a possible serial killer and rapist on Detroit's east side.

Right now Detroit Police fear a serial rapist is on the hunt in neighborhoods in the area of Schoolcraft and the Southfield Freeway.

Police released a sketch they hope will help them find a suspect.

The man last attacked on September 10th. 

Police say a woman who knew him from a dating app met him at a gas station around 1:30 in the morning.  He got in her car and physically assaulted her. 

He ordered her to drive to another location where police believe he planned to sexually assault her.

“She said I will slam this car before I take you anywhere,” said Dionne Dickson, a witness to what happened next.

Dickson woke up to a car slamming into her neighbor’s Ford Edge parked near the corner of the Southfield Service Drive and Lyndon.

“So I came out, like what is going on?” said Dickson.

As neighbors came outside the man ran away.  

Neighbors helped his victim call police.  

Police say they believe the man is responsible for at least three recent sexual assaults that happened in the area.  

The assaults happened on the city’s west side on March 29, July 15, and August 30, 2018. The ages of the victims are 22, 25 & 28 and at least two of them had contact with the suspect on a social media dating site.  

The suspect is described as a black male, 26-30, 5’6”, 150 lbs., medium brown complexion, dark brown eyes, medium build, with no mustache and a black beard, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, with a black mesh half face mask.  

“In the area of the Southfield Freeway and Schoolcraft, that is where we are on high alert,” said Capt. Jevon Johnson, of the Major Crimes Unit.

Johnson suggests people take precautions when meeting people they know only from online.  Meet inside a public place where others will be around, ideally during the day.

Police say they believe there might be other victims out there and are asking them to come forward.