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Intruder Attacks Woman in Southeast Apartment
Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that authorities are looking for a suspect wanted in connection with a brazen invasion of a home in the Town of Southeast on February 13th. Investigators are seeking leads that will help them identify and locate the suspect, a man wearing a ski mask who attacked a woman in the kitchen of her apartment on Route 312 at about 10am today.
The woman, who lives with a male partner, was home alone in the downstairs apartment of a bi-level duplex in the Dykemans section of Southeast, when the suspect entered the home through an unlocked rear door and confronted her in her kitchen. The suspect, who is believed to be Hispanic and who spoke in the Spanish language, threatened to sexually assault the victim. He then grabbed her and a struggle ensued.
The attacker picked up shards of a ceramic coffee mug broken in the struggle and slashed at the woman's arms and legs, inflicting cuts and bruises. He knocked her to the floor and began to choke her with his hands.
The victim, aged 19, fought off her attacker and broke free from his grasp. The suspect then fled from the residence, running out the rear door.
The woman, who speaks only the Spanish language, went to the home of a neighbor and then communicated with her partner, who in turn called 911. Sheriff's deputies, state troopers, and nearby patrols of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("MTA") Police rushed to the victim's home and canvassed the area in search of the intruder. Troopers deployed canines in an effort to track the suspect, but the dogs lost the man's trail a short distance away from the house, near the MTA railroad tracks.
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