Police search for clues in Manassas area attacks

While police continue to investigate the brutal attacks of two women in the Coverstone area near Manassas on Tuesday, investigators are reviewing reports from two other women who said they were attacked in the same area in August.

A woman told Prince William police on Aug. 26 that she was walking along Coverstone Drive when a man grabbed her and punched her in the face.

On Aug. 1 another woman told police a man hit her with a leash while she too was walking in the area of Coverstone Drive.

These cases may provide more clues into Tuesday’s brutal attacks, though there is a difference in the way they were carried out, said Prince William police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.

Just before 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said, a man grabbed and a 25-year-old woman and punched her in the face, and then sexually assaulted her.

The woman was walking along a path between a series of apartment buildings and a shopping center, near Coverstone Drive, said Hernandez.

That victim fought off her attacker and was taken to the hospital and treated for a broken nose.

Later that night, a 33-year-old woman was attacked while sitting in her car, in the 7500 block of Clemson Court, near Coverstone Drive.

Police said a man walked up to her car, opened the door, punched her in the face, and then attempted to drag her from the car. She too fought off her attacker, said Hernandez.

After the attacks, Prince William police on Wednesday stepped up patrols in the neighborhood.

But neither of the women who filed a police report in August said she was sexually assaulted, said Hernandez. After seeing a sketch of the sketch of the recent attacker, Hernandez said, one of the August victims called police to say she was sexually assaulted.

In both cases on Tuesday, the attacker was described as black with an afro-style hairdo.

In the morning assault, the victim described her assailant as between 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a thin build. The man was wearing eyeglasses with a brown tint, dark pants and a white shirt with blue and red stripes, said the police spokeswoman.

In the second attack, the woman described a black man between 18 and 25 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 165 pounds. He wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans, said Chinn. He had no facial hair.

Police warned women walking in the neighborhood to be extra cautious.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.