• Rapist's alleged taunt: Ha-ha, I just gave you HIV

    Philadelphia police are asking for the public's help to find a brutal attacker who repeatedly beat and raped a young woman. The victim's family alleges that the attacker taunted he had HIV. WCAU's Lu Ann Cahn reports.

    By Dan Stamm, NBC10.com

    Ha-ha, I just gave you HIV.


    That's what a rape victim was told as she was brutally attacked -- possibly for hours -- near her Philadelphia, Pa., home, the victim's sister tells NBC10.

    Philadelphia Police asked for the public’s help Tuesday to help track down the assailant. They made a surveillance video public that they say shows the rapist as he approached the victim and then began beating and raping her.

    For more, visit NBC10.com

    The "violent, unprovoked" attack happened just after midnight Aug. 29, after the victim, 24, dropped a friend off at a bus stop on Frankford Avenue, police Special Victims Unit Capt. John Darby told reporters Tuesday.

    As she walked along Church Street near Griscom Street, the man jumped her from behind, began punching her, forced her into an alley and raped her repeatedly, police said.

    “The 24-year-old victim sustained severe head and facial injuries to the point of almost being unrecognizable,” Darby said.

    Darby says the suspect also choked the woman until she was unconscious. It's possible she was raped repeatedly possibly over a period of hours.

    Several hours later a neighbor saw the bloody victim stumbling down the block and called 9-1-1. She was taken to the hospital where she remained for days before being released. She was tested for HIV -- the results of that test weren't released.

    Still visibly bruised, the victim did not want to go on camera Tuesday, but she did tearfully tell NBC10's Lu Ann Cahn that she just wants justice.

    Police hoped to deliver that justice without releasing video. Investigators tell NBC10 that they've worked hard trying to capture the suspect but after leads dried up they decided to turn to the public for help.

    The suspect is described as a thin, black man in his 20s with a medium complexion and short black hair who stands around 5 feet, 9 inches tall. He wore a white T-shirt, dark pants and dark shoes, cops said.

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