Police Suspect Two Serial Rapists Attacking in Queens

Police are asking for the public's help as they search for two serial rapists whom they believe have committed at least 10 sexual assaults in Southeast Queens during the past eight months.

Four sexual assaults have been reported in the area since Tuesday morning, and police say the two suspects, who are believed to be acting separately, have been responsible for three of them.

The most recent attack occurred at about 2 a.m. yesterday. The suspect approached an 18-year-old woman at 140th Avenue and South Gate Street at a bus stop along the Q85 route and threatened her with a knife, police said. He then took her to a deserted area nearby, where he raped her and fled.

That suspect is believed to be behind a similar attack that occurred early Tuesday morning, when a 23-year-old woman was forcibly removed from another Q85 stop, at North Conduit Avenue and 225th Street, and sexually assaulted in a deserted area. Police describe the suspect as a 5-foot-8-inch black male of medium build with close-cut black hair. In the most recent incident, he is said to have been wearing a T-shirt with a skull and rose insignia.

Based on descriptions by the victims, police believe the second suspect is behind a spree of eight sexual assaults in Queens. Police say the earliest attack occurred on November 8, and the most recent on Wednesday morning, when a 16-year-old girl reported that she was accosted by a man and sexually assaulted at an abandoned church on Merrill Street. Of the eight reported victims, five are teenagers and three are in their 20s.

Council Member Leroy Comrie, who represents portions of Queens, said in a statement yesterday that the police department should create a special task force on sexual assault in response to an 8.8% increase in rapes citywide this year.