The Rape at Colbert Square Apartments

Last Tuesday night a man visited the Colbert Square Apartments, a complex adjacent to Sheffield Junior High School, a complex that residents had reported on to the Sheffield City Council as far back as 2009. He knocked on three doors before he found a resident who opened the door to him. All three apartments belonged to women.

Colbert Square Directly Across from Sheffield Baseball Field

At the third apartment, the man asked for Debbie. When told there was no Debbie there, the African American, said to be in his mid to late twenties, forced his way into the apartment and raped the 54 year-old tenant. The victim managed to strike the intruder with a heavy ashtray, leaving a large gash on his forehead.

As the rapist left the modest apartment where units rent from $250.00 to $285.00 a month (in red), he took his victim's cell phone and vehicle. Just six blocks away at the intersection of York Terrace and Almon Street (in blue), the intruder abandoned the Ford Taurus and presumably made his way from there on foot.

Now six days later, the rapist is still at large. Any crime of this nature is troubling, but this particular crime is doubly so. 

1. The intruder had obviously scoped out the complex and knew which units were inhabited by single women.

2. Money was not the object of the crime, and no items taken were retained by the rapist.

3. This crime comes on the heels of a violent attack on a Sheffield man that was said to be a type of gang activity, perhaps an initiation of sorts.

Sheffield police need everyone's help in solving this heinous crime. If you have any information, call 256 383-1771.

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