Police: Stranger followed Oahu woman into her home, sexually assaulted her

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Authorities are searching for a suspect accused of following a woman into her home with a knife and sexually assaulting her.

The incident happened on Monday just before 10 p.m.

According to Honolulu CrimeStoppers, the man followed the woman as she was walking home on Woolsey Street.

“She goes inside, at which point, this male enters, brandishes the knife, restrains her then sexually assaults her,” said Sgt. Chris Kim of Honolulu CrimeStoppers.

At around 9:30 Monday night, surveillance video shows the 27-year-old woman walking toward her home on the phone not knowing that someone is behind her.

As she exits out of frame, a man appears two cars away from her ducking behind cars.

He’s also carrying his shoes.

15 minutes later, the man is seen running in the opposite direction.

Nine minutes after that, police arrive.

“We live in such in such a secluded kind of area,” said Neighbor Stacie Rivera. “To think that that kind of thing could happen way up here is kind of scary.”

“A lot of us walk around, even in the evenings, especially since COVID,” said Frank Richardson of Manoa. “We get out to exercise, we walk the hills in the evenings and a lot of women walking around as well so that’s concerning.”

The suspect is described as between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-9 and weighing roughly 140 to 150 pounds. He has light tan or olive skin and has black, curly or frizzy hair that was tied up in a ponytail.

He was wearing a light-colored, short-sleeve shirt, dark pants, Adidas slides, a black surgical mask and was possibly wearing glasses.

HPD advises people to have someone with you especially during late night and early morning hours.

Women walking alone are urged to be aware of their surroundings and carry pepper spray.

“If you’re able to run away, kick, scream, shout, fight, whatever you need to do to get away, you know, please do so,” said Kim.

“In this day and age, there’s a lot of strange things that happen, because I’ve lived there all my life and you’ve never heard something like that happen in Manoa,” said Rivera. “But now I guess it’s everywhere on the island.”

“So be more aware of what we’re what’s going on.”

Anyone who has any information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (808) 955-8300.

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