THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120406
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The Rev. Lawrence Bethel wants to stop the assaults on young girls that have intermittently plagued the East End of Newport News since 1990.
That's the reason the Presbyterian minister made an appeal from the office of his church on 25th Street Tuesday morning - to put an end to attacks. Most of the 19 girls, ranging in age from 8 to 17, have been assaulted going to and from school. One attack was in the Denbigh section, in the other end of the city.
None of the girls was raped. Some were fondled, police said.
It is not the first plea for help made by officials since the attacks began almost five years ago. But Bethel's appeal was different. He provided a profile of the suspect that police have developed from accounts of the attacks.
He said the attacker probably has a ``caretaker,'' an aunt or mother who provides him shelter and comfort, and who probably knows what her relative is doing.
``We are talking about an individual who is clean, who is bathed, who doesn't have a body odor, who certainly lives with someone who provides these things for him,'' Bethel said. ``That he is attacking young girls indicates that he has some emotional problem. . . . It does not indicate an individual who is sufficiently self-assured and has the self-esteem to live alone and perpetuate these acts.''
Bethel said the caretaker is most likely not a wife or girlfriend.
``I just don't believe this individual has a significant other in an intimate kind of relationship,'' Bethel said.
Bethel said authorities also have put together two other profile characteristics of the suspect - he is local and intelligent.
``The investigation so far has revealed that this young man resides in our community and knows our community well,'' Bethel said. ``We are not talking about an unintelligent person, but a troubled person.''
Patricia L. Mahaffy, spokeswoman for the Newport News Police Department, said the latest description of the suspect is that he is a light-skinned black male in his late teens or early 20s, and 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing between 120 and 130 pounds.
Bethel wants callers to contact him at Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church. Confidentiality, he said, will be protected.
``We hope someone who knows this young man who might be reluctant to approach the authorities will come to the church and not feel they are betraying a valued relationship,'' Bethel said.
Newport News authorities have tried many approaches to solving the crimes. Police created a task force in 1992 with the help of the FBI. They redoubled efforts in 1994 by setting up a 24-hour hot line in an effort to get anonymous tips. Although hundreds of leads were followed and interviews of suspects conducted, no arrests were made.
The attacks also have mobilized the East End community. Huntington Middle School has developed a volunteer organization called the Minutemen. The volunteers watch school bus stops and streets frequented by schoolchildren in the mornings and afternoons.
Tthe efforts may have prevented some attacks, but they have not stopped them.
The most recent victim was a 15-year-old girl assaulted Friday morning at the intersection of 25th Street and Orcutt Avenue near St. John's Church of God in Christ. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
At a news conference Tuesday in the office of Carver Memorial
Presbyterian Church in Newport News, the Rev. Lawrence Bethel
appeals to the public for leads in catching a man who has attacked
19 girls since 1990.
KEYWORDS: CHILD MOLESTER SEX CRIME ASSAULT NEWPORT NEWS HAMPTON
by CNB