The Santa Cruz Police Department said it is still searching for a suspect in an early morning sexual assault on Frederick Street last month that left a victim seriously injured.
A woman reported that she was violently attacked between 1:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, sustaining serious injuries. She described the suspect as a white male in his mid-to-late 20s with a thin build who is about 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9.
Police released a sketch of the suspect in the case. The image bears a striking resemblance to a sketch that UC Santa Cruz released in March of a suspect who campus police say assaulted two students in separate incidents at John R. Lewis College residence halls earlier this year.
Victims and witnesses similarly described the suspect in the campus assaults as a light-skinned male in his early 20s with shoulder-length dark hair, about 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9 and dressed in dark clothing, a black bandana and black-rimmed glasses.
SCPD spokesperson Katie Lee told Lookout on Tuesday that while the department is aware that sketches of the two suspects appear similar, police do not have any evidence to link the two cases. However, investigators are working with allied police agencies, including university police.
UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason did not respond to a request for comment on the cases by publication time.
The case is active and investigators are pursuing leads. Detectives are awaiting results from the department’s lab as evidence is processed and analyzed. Lee declined to comment on what pieces of evidence the department is analyzing.
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