Police still examining Vet School incident

Investigators are not yet sure what happened in the possible assault. University Police have not yet determined the nature of last week's widely publicized incident in the basement of the Veterinary Hospital, where a 28-year-old graduate student was found semi-conscious and bound. Police still describe the case as an "investigation of assault," without specifying any more details. And little additional information is likely to emerge from the investigation until police receive the results of sexual assault tests conducted at Jefferson University Hospital -- which should be available within about a week. "In this case, even though it's a very puzzling situation and it's not clear what has happened, the law enforcement agencies that are involved are doing everything possible to track down every possible lead," Director of Victim Support and Special Services Susan Hawkins said. Even though last week's incident attracted wide attention because it occurred as students were returning for the fall semester, police officials insisted that it was targeted at the specific victim and does not affect overall student safety. "We are extremely confident that this is not a random act," Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. "This is an act against one individual." Since the woman was found early last Wednesday morning, police have interviewed building contractors, school personnel and Veterinary School classmates to try to determine what actually happened in the basement locker room. "[The woman] remembers absolutely nothing," University Police Detective Tom King said. "It makes [the investigation] very difficult." When police arrived at the scene, the student "appeared to be semi-conscious, her hands were bound with a dog leash and her blouse or her top portion of her clothes were pulled up kind of like around her head," said Lt. Ken Coluzzi of the Philadelphia Police Department's Sex Crimes Unit. The woman was immediately taken to Jefferson, where she was given a "thorough physical examination," according to Hawkins. But even though the case has been treated as a possible sexual assault from the beginning, Hawkins noted that "it's not clear that that's what happened here." Although police do not have a suspect in last week's assault, Coluzzi said they are investigating the possibility that the assailant is the same person involved in a similar incident last spring, when the same woman was found semi-conscious in a woman's bathroom of the Veterinary Hospital. "It would be strange that this would have happened to her twice by two different people," he said. "The possibility exists that it's the same person. The likelihood that it's two [assailants] is slim." After the first incident, the woman reported that she received threatening mail, an allegation that the FBI is investigating. The FBI refused to comment on the investigation, but a spokesperson explained that local police often take advantage of the agency's resources to help solve certain cases, including those involving threats. Since the incident, the Veterinary Hospital has drawn flak from critics claiming that lax security may have allowed an assailant to enter the building and assault the woman. But Spectaguard Assistant Vice President Gesi McAllister insisted that the hospital's security is adequate, noting that all after-hours visitors are supposed to have their identification checked by a guard at the main entrance, while another guard roams the hospital. The incident and a report in the Philadelphia Daily News claiming that just about anyone could enter the building without being questioned have led Spectaguard to change its policy so that building visitors must now be questioned at all times of day, McAllister said.