Police hope links will yield rapist

Using victim accounts and forensic evidence, police are tying more attacks to the murder of a Wharton student. Twenty-eight months after he struck for the first time and 18 months after he killed a Wharton doctoral student, the Center City serial rapist is still on the run -- though police hope the noose is tightening. Since last week, two more 1997 attacks have been definitively connected to the rapist, and an incident over the weekend is under investigation. That raises the total number of incidents to at least six, including the May 1998 strangling death of Shannon Schieber, 23, in her Rittenhouse Square apartment. All of the victims have been in their late teens or 20s, and all occurred within blocks of each other. It wasn't until a year after Schieber's death that police began linking the murder -- initially believed to be the result of a botched burglary or a stalker ex-boyfriend -- to first two, then three, and now five other assaults. And with the rapist known to have struck as recently as August, police are hoping new evidence will continue to lead them in the right direction. "Anytime a person commits more crimes, there's a chance that he will leave evidence that will lead to an apprehension," said Philadelphia Homicide Lt. Ken Coluzzi, who is leading the investigation. Though describing the situation as somewhat of a catch-22, Coluzzi explained that the more crimes they can link, the better the odds are that police will catch the attacker. Philadelphia Police are now turning their attention to a Sunday night break-in on the 1800 block of Chestnut Street shortly before 8 p.m. that bears resemblance to the earlier attacks. The 29-year-old victim was able to successfully fight off the assailant who entered her third-floor apartment. Yesterday, police detectives combed the scene of the latest attack for possible DNA evidence that could link the crime, but right now "it's too early in the investigation to tell," Coluzzi said. Though detectives working on the case said the suspect description in this latest incident is "very close" to previous ones, both the time and location of the attack set it apart. Ann Burgess, a Penn Nursing professor who specializes in the study of crimes and their victims, said that although there are strong similarities in the descriptions, it is important to focus more on the attacker's methods, or "signature," especially since the intense media attention the case has received makes it more likely that victims will believe that their attacker resembles the serial rapist more than he does. As the list of crimes connected to the attacker continues to grow, he will likely experience more satisfaction, Burgess said. "[The rapist's] motivation rests on power and control, so if he's in control of the media and putting one over on the police, it feeds an ego," Burgess said. For Schieber's parents -- who sued the city and the police for failing to properly handle a 911 emergency call related to their daughter's death -- the continued revelations have been difficult to handle. Schieber's father, Sylvester, has pleaded with city residents to turn in the attacker, saying that someone in the Rittenhouse Square area must know who he is. Others, too, are encouraging residents to be on the look out. Penn has posted a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the rapist and the Philadelphia Daily News has added $5,000 to that sum. Yesterday, Sylvester Schieber expressed frustration at the police department's failure to keep his family up-to-date on the investigation, saying that detectives were "ordered not to talk to us" because of the pending litigation. He also said he questions whether there were other crimes that occurred in the several month gaps before and after his daughter's killing. "Is there any reason to believe that there weren't more crimes committed?" he asked. The suit says that police officers who responded to a late-night 911 call from a neighbor of Schieber's should have knocked down the door once they arrived. Instead, they knocked and left after hearing no answer. The Schiebers believe their daughter was still alive with her killer inside the apartment. Schieber's body was found 12 hours later by her younger brother when she failed to make a lunch appointment.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.