Sex Assault Was Revenge for Eviction: Victim

The victim believes the suspect was sent by an old roommate she had evicted

A woman who was sexually assaulted as she slept claims the attack was payback from an angry, evicted roommate.

The 25-year-old victim, who wished to be identified only as Isabel, told NBC 7 she woke up Sunday around 3 a.m. to a man standing over her bed and touching her.

“I was very scared,” said Isabel. “I was feeling in that moment that my life was in danger. Even, I was thinking I will die. This guy will kill me or rape me.”

Terrified, she screamed to try to reach someone, causing the suspect to flee.

The man left her Hancock Street apartment the way he came in: through the front door, which Isabel said was locked. He also had to get through a security gate that requires a code.

Just 12 hours before the attack, Isabel said she evicted the roommate she had taken in for six weeks as a favor to a neighbor. The woman had refused to leave, so Isabel served her with a restraining order and an eviction notice.

The woman left Saturday afternoon with a key to Isabel's place. The victim believes her intruder was revenge.

“I think she was so mad and she was so upset that she sent this guy to hurt me,” said Isabel, “because no one else had the key to this place. Just her.”

She describes her attacker as a man in his 20s with a muscular build, standing 5-foot-7-inches. Sunday morning, he was wearing a blue polo shirt, grey or denim shorts and white tennis shoes.

Out of fear, the victim has changed all her locks. She has also requested to move to a different unit in the apartment complex to avoid another potential assault.

“He can do anything; you don’t know. He can have a knife or a gun,” said Isabel. “He can hit me with something. He can kill me in that moment in my own place, my own room. It’s very scary.”

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