Fort Wayne police are seeking the public’s help in finding a man who raped a 14-year-old girl who was on her way to a school bus stop Wednesday morning.
The girl was abducted and raped between 7:15 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. Wednesday, according to Raquel Foster, police spokeswoman.
Police said the girl was walking alone to her bus stop at Gaywood Drive and Oxford Street, on the city’s south side, when a man in an older-model maroon sedan pulled up near the girl, forced her into his vehicle and raped her. The man then let her go, Foster said.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Foster declined to disclose the exact location of the abduction and would not say whether the rape occurred at a different location.
Foster did not know whether the girl went to school that day.
“We do not believe that the victim knew the suspect,” Foster said.
A complete description of the assailant was not available. The man is not believed to have displayed a weapon, instead using physical force during the abduction.
“Our goal is to identify a suspect and make an apprehension,” Foster said, adding that parents should make sure their children do not walk alone to or from school or bus stops.
“It’s terrible that something like that would happen in the neighborhood,” longtime Gaywood Drive resident Narvis Thompson said. “You always want your kids to grow up in a safe neighborhood.”
Thompson is retired and his children are grown, but he’s still concerned about the well-being of the children who live nearby.
They often walk several blocks to the bus stop at that intersection, he said.
Thompson said the neighborhood is well lit and most homes well-kept.
“All in all it’s a pretty good neighborhood,” he said.
Patricia Stewart’s 16-year-old granddaughter lives with her and walks to a school bus stop nearby, though not the same bus stop used by the 14-year-old.
Stewart, who lives on Oxford Street, said the rape report is troubling.
“It’s pitch black,” Stewart said of the time when children are at the bus stop. “What they really need is some surveillance cameras at each bus stop or at least put police there until the kids are on the bus. It’s very scary, and it really hurts my heart.”
