The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks,
The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and
spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."
An SIUC student reported to campus police she was sexually assaulted around 11:30 p.m. Monday near Campus Lake by a naked man who was wearing only white socks.
According to SIUC Police, the female victim said she was jogging on a path just west of the beach house at Campus Lake when the suspect attacked her. She said the suspect grabbed her around the waist with both of his arms and carried her a short distance before she struggled out of his arm lock and ran free.
SIUC Police Capt. Todd Sigler said because the area of the alleged assault was very dark at the time of the incident, the victim could only describe the suspect as a naked white man.
"Having something like that happen to you can be very traumatic," Sigler said. "It's also very dark in that area. Lighting is very limited. In some places, it's very difficult to see very far in front of you. I would think the combination of the stressful event and the darkness really hindered her ability to come up with a helpful description."
The victim did indicate to police that two people in a car parked near Thompson Point saw her shortly after the alleged attack.
One of the witnesses, who wished to remain anonymous, said she did not know about the assault until she saw the victim running toward the car and never saw the alleged attacker.
"She ran up to the car and banged on the side windows," the witness said. "She was very stressed and emotional."
"There really isn't anything else to go on," Sigler said. "She was re-interviewed the following day to try to help develop more of a description. Unfortunately, that's all she was able to provide."
The sexual assault is the first reported on campus since an 18-year-old female SIUC student said she was raped Oct. 17 in her Mae Smith Hall dorm room. The victim did not report any injuries and said she knew the suspect. No arrests have been made in connection with that assault.
Sigler said the area near Campus Lake is normally not a place where crimes are reported and SIUC Police do not focus on the area as much as they patrol in higher population areas.
"With the resources that we have available at any given time on a shift, we do try to prioritize ourselves based upon population and based upon known problems in the past," Sigler said. "The Campus Lake area is not known as a problem area. Parking lots and that sort of thing and places where we historically get problems garner a lot of our attention. That particular area, being a dark area, we do try to devote some resources to it but probably not to the extent that we'd like to."
Since Monday night's alleged assault, Sigler said his department has increased patrolling in the Campus Lake area in effort to find anyone else who may have witnessed the attack.
Although he said he is not placing any blame on the victim, Sigler said people should be aware that traveling in darkened areas on campus can be more dangerous than realized.
"I want to emphasize that we're not in any way, shape or form placing any of the blame on the victim for being out there or for jogging," Sigler said. "People should be able to go jogging when they'd like to.
"However, it is a dark area. It is something we would caution people about being out by themselves. It's a good idea to always have someone else with you."
Anyone with information regarding the assault can call SIUC Police at 452-2381 or call the Crime Stopper Line at 549-COPS (549-2677).
