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Elderly Lakewood Woman Raped and Beaten into Unconsciousness as Neighbors Ignore Dogs Who Call For Help

Police Looking For Lakewood Rape Suspect

KOMO 4 News - Seattle,Washington,,USA - Written by Leslie Knopp - March 25, 2005

LAKEWOOD - Lakewood Detectives think a rapist may have spied on his 62-year-old victim, even followed her, before attacking her. Now police want the public's help to track him down.

"Yes it is, it's too close to home for comfort," said neighbor Kay Smith.

Smith and her friend Greba Christensen call themselves the 'neighborhood watch' of the street. They often saw the victim walk by with her two little dogs.

"She was a nice lady," said Smith. "She just minded her own business and walked her little dogs." Greba Christensen adds, "I've never seen anybody following her."

But, detectives say that may be what happened. The attacker may have watched when and where the victim walked her dogs.

And on Tuesday, he may have followed her home and attacked her in her apartment at the Hidden Lake Apartments in Lakewood.

"There's no indication of a break-in," said Lakewood Police Detective Mike Zaro. "But, she's not the kind of person that let strangers in. She's very cautious about that."

Police said the victim's daughter sensed something was wrong and found her mother at 10 a.m. the next morning. She was beaten and raped and then left unconscious on her floor.

"The victim's memory is pretty much wiped out about the incident," Zaro said. "She's able to recall little bits and pieces. But, at this point she's not able to give us any suspect information."

Neighbors say they saw nothing strange Tuesday night. Some of them heard the victim's dogs barking in the middle of the night but didn't think anything of it, until now.

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