By Michael Morton
As of Tuesday, an arrest had not been made in the case.The woman, who walked with a cane, was riding eastbound on the E line March 16 when she failed to get off at the Jamaica/Van Wyck station and traveled two stops to Jamaica Center at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, the end of the line, police said. When she got off about 8 p.m., a stranger approached her and asked if she needed help, police said. She replied that she did, and requested that he lead her to an elevator so she could catch a train headed back in the other direction, police said.The man then took her to another part of the station-possibly to an elevator-stuck a sharp object against her neck and raped her for 10 minutes before fleeing, police said.The woman waited a day before telling her roommate about the rape, police said. After her roommate reported the crime to police, the woman was taken to Jamaica Hospital and examined with a rape kit, a law enforcement official said.Detectives are hoping DNA evidence from the kit will match up with their existing criminal databases. Even if the supposition about the location of the crime proves correct, all the elevators were cleaned with bleach after the rape as part of routine maintenance, the law enforcement official said. It could not be determined if there was a working security camera in the elevator or if the suspect was captured elsewhere on videotape. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority referred all questions to police, who declined to comment on possible surveillance.After the crime, Eric Adams of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care said his group and the National Latino Officer organization were offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to a conviction, news reports said. He also criticized the MTA for not having security cameras in every elevator, noting that criminals knew which ones did and which ones did not have the equipment, the reports said.With her impairment, the woman could not provide a physical description of her attacker. While no one had been arrested as of Tuesday, District Attorney Richard Brown vowed that the full extent of the law would be brought to bear on any defendant.”To offer a helping hand to a sightless young woman and then attack her is not merely criminal, it is depraved,” Brown said. Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 800-577-TIPS.Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
