Fairmount-Rutgers Rapist Strikes Again

Philadelphia police now believe that a Saturday night assault was the work of the Fairmount Park Rapist.

A man with a knife attacked a 37-year-old woman on the jogging path next to the East Falls bridge near Kelly Drive, police said.

The woman fought off the assailant and survived the stabbing, and police said that based on a woman's description of the assailant and his method of attack, the attacked could be a man wanted in two other attacks.

Saturday night's attack was about a half mile from the scene of Rebecca Park's rape and murder. The medical student's death in July shocked the city and put the area on a state of alert.

Descriptions of Park's assailant had been posted for months in the area near the park. At Rutgers, the suspect's description is similar, and police say there were similarities in the incidents in Philadelphia and in New Brunswick.

Police have linked the suspect in Park's death by DNA with at least one other rape that targeted a 21-year-old woman jogging on Kelly Drive on April 30.

The attack happened Saturday night, authorities said. The victim said her attacker tried to drag her into the woods and stabbed her several times before she got away.

The man is also suspected of raping six women near the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick may be linked to rapes in Philadelphia, police said Friday.

Police in Philadelphia and New Brunswick, N.J., are are comparing notes and DNA samples to see if the man who sexually attacked the women at Rutgers raped and killed a medical student in Philadelphia are the same.

The man also reportedly apologized to one or more of his victims after the crimes, both in New Brunswick, and Philadelphia, police say.

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Author: NBC10