Riverside police are looking for a man who broke into a Riverside home just before 1 a.m. on June 30 and tried to lure a teenage girl out of the house.
According to police, someone described as a white male with a tan (possibly Hispanic), 30-40 years old, 5-foot-9-inches to 5-foot-11-inches tall with a thin build, goatee, dark wavy hair, a tattoo on his right forearm and wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, entered a home in the first block of North Delaplaine Road through a sliding window on the ground floor.
Once inside, he confronted a 17-year-old girl who was at a computer in the family room of the house. The two appear to have had a short conversation in which the man reportedly told the girl to be quiet and that he was not going to hurt her. The man initially grabbed the girl by the arm and attempted to lead her outside, said Riverside Detective Sgt. John Krull. The man later tried to pick her up and carry her. At no time during the incident, Krull said, did the girl call out to any of the other four people in the house who were asleep at the time.
Unable to persuade the girl to leave the house, the man fled the scene on foot westbound on East Quincy Street. After the man left the house, the girl awakened the home’s owner, who called Riverside police. Police canvassed the area but couldn’t locate a suspect.
“We haven’t had a case like this in years, nor have our neighbors,” said Riverside Assistant Police Chief Thomas Weitzel. “We’re lucky nobody was hurt and lucky she wasn’t sexually assaulted.”
Police were able to recover fingerprints from the window frame and found a flashlight outside the window where the man likely gained entrance. The Illinois State Police crime lab is attempting to recover fingerprints from the flashlight and from the batteries inside.
Riverside police also called in a forensic artist to complete a composite sketch of the man, based on the description given by the victim, a Swede who has been visiting the area for just a short time. The sketch and a written alert message were distributed to homes in the nearby area. In addition, Riverside police have sent out a wanted poster via computer to all law enforcement agencies in the state.
As of yesterday morning police had received no tips on the case, according to Weitzel.
According to the police alert, residents are being asked to contact the police department via 911 should they “hear or see anything or anybody that looks suspicious or out of place.” Anyone wishing to report a suspicious vehicle or person in the area recently is being asked to contact Sgt. Krull at 447-2127, ext. 262.
