Phila. Police release more info on Schieber case

City police released a generla description of the suspect, who is thought to have committed two rapes in Center City. Although Philadelphia Police have not yet released a sketch of the man suspected of murdering Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber last May, the detective heading the investigation released a general description of the suspect yesterday. Philadelphia Homicide Lt. Ken Colluzzi described the suspect as 5'8" to 5'10", with a thin build, black hair and olive-colored skin. He said he didn't know when police would release a sketch to the public. Police "don't have any composite sketch at the point that we feel comfortable releasing," Colluzzi said. Schieber, 23, was strangled to death in her Center City apartment at about 2 a.m. on May 7 last year. A 1997 Center City rape victim whose attacker was tied to Schieber's killer through DNA collected at both crime scenes is working with police to produce a composite sketch of her assailant. The DNA match was the first break in the nine-month investigation since police cleared a former boyfriend of Schieber's who initially emerged as the prime suspect. Matching DNA was also collected from the scene of another 1997 Center City rape, which happened within blocks of the two other incidents. Police remained confident yesterday that they would find Schieber's killer. "Every new piece of information always increases the chances of being successful," Colluzzi said. Police refused to comment about whether the second rape victim was also assisting them, or any other aspect of the case that was not leaked to The Philadelphia Inquirer last Friday. "Enough got out already that could damage [the case]. To give anything else out would hamper the investigation," Colluzzi said. In Friday's edition, the Inquirer cited unnamed police sources when it printed that the police had found the DNA matches. "The person who committed these terrible, horrendous crimes now knows exactly what the police knows," Colluzzi said, emphasizing that the criminal now knows both the police's strengths and weaknesses in the investigation. "It sort of gives him an edge and I certainly don't like to do that." But Marc Duvoisin, the city editor for the Inquirer, said that editors at the paper spoke with police officials "at the highest level" Thursday night, and "at the end of that discussion, they did not object to our publishing the story." Duvoisin added that there was a "substantial public benefit" to printing the story, because there is "a serial rapist who has not been apprehended and who the police are looking for." "It would have been strange to have that information and not put it before the public," he said. Police, however, said that they held several community meetings warning area residents of the potential criminal and increased patrolling in the area. Duvoisin said police stopped objecting to the publication when they found out that the Inquirer did not know and would not reveal the names of the rape victims. Shannon Schieber's father, Sylvester, shared the police's worry that the Inquirer's reports may have warned the assailant, thus hindering the investigation. The Schiebers are currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia for allegedly mishandling the original 911 call that a neighbor placed after hearing screams coming from Shannon Schieber's apartment last May. The lawsuit contends that Schieber was still alive when police officers arrived at the scene, only to leave when no one answered a knock on her door.