What to Know
- There's a new push to find the Fairmount Park rapist, one of the Philly's most notorious criminals, 16 years later.
- The suspect is responsible for raping three women, including one whom he also murdered, and attacking a fourth woman who escaped.
- The incidents took place between 2003 and 2007. The suspect has not been captured.
There’s a new push to find one of Philadelphia’s most notorious criminals on the 16th anniversary of his first attack.
On April 30, 2003, a 21-year-old woman was jogging on Kelly and Fountain Green drives when she was raped by a man at knifepoint.
On July 13, 2003, medical student Rebecca Park, 30, was jogging in West Fairmount Park when she was raped and strangled. Her body was found four days later.
On Oct. 25, 2003, a 37-year-old woman was jogging on West River Drive when she was attacked at knifepoint. The woman escaped and was driven to a Lower Merion hospital by a passerby.
All of the attacks occurred within a one-mile radius and investigators used DNA evidence to link them to one suspect, referred to by the media as the Fairmount Park rapist.
Four years later, on Aug. 11, 2007, a woman was raped near Frankford and Solly avenues. Police said the Fairmount Park rapist was responsible.
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Kathleen Messina of Philly’s Fox Chase neighborhood remembered the terror the still-unidentified man placed on the city.
“It was scary knowing women were being attacked and nobody could figure out who he was,” Messina said.
The FBI and police are now renewing their search for the suspect. He’s described as a man with a medium-build standing 5-foot-8 with scars on his chest, shoulder and arm, possibly from burns or stab wounds, a dark complexion, black hair, thin mustache and bushy eyebrows. Police also said he spoke broken English.
During two of the attacks, the suspect wore an earring on his left ear and fled on a purple, metallic 10-speed bike, police said. During the attack in 2007, he wore a mesh sleeveless basketball shirt and shorts that were light blue with white stripes on the shorts and white edging on the shirt.
He also wore a gold chain with a crucifix pendant.
If you have any information on the man’s identity, please call Philadelphia Police.
