Local

Key detail in alleged rape near Bartram Park could lead to suspect

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Police are searching for a man after a woman said she was raped in front of her child behind a Bartram Park shopping center Friday.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released a sketch of the man who the woman says raped her while she was pushing her child in a stroller through a wooded area behind a Publix on Old St. Augustine Road.

The woman told police she believes she scratched the man during the attack.

Action News Jax Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said that key detail could lead police to the attacker.

“That's very essential in this investigation because it shows a couple of things,” Jefferson said. “One, she was fighting back and two, she had a very good independent recollection of her actions at that particular time. Thirdly, if she scratched him in the face she possibly got some of his DNA.”

She was also able to give police a thorough description of her attacker.

JSO described the suspect as a light-skinned man between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 9 inches with straight black hair and brown eyes.

He could be driving an old gray four-door Honda with damaged tint on the windows.

Investigators were at the scene for hours Saturday afternoon and went door-to-door looking for surveillance video that may have caught a glimpse of the woman's assailant.

A crime map showed there have only been five violent crimes in a 1-mile radius of the area within the last six months.