Police are looking at surveillance video taken from cameras at La Mirage Apartments in Mission Valley in hopes of identifying a sexual assault suspect who has terrorized women in San Diego for nearly a year.
"We are hoping to identify the suspects vehicle," Captain Jim Collins said.
The cameras are located on some buildings and near the entrance to the apartment complex on Reflection Drive.
A suspect, believed to be involved in five other attacks, followed a woman into her apartment Tuesday, police said. The woman's 18-month-old child was also with her at the time.
Detectives say the suspect threatened the victim with a knife before tying her up and demanding money from her. The suspect then took the woman into another room and sexually assaulted her. After he left, the woman grabbed her child and ran out the back door before calling police.
This is now the sixth attack in a series that began in June 2008. In all the cases, the victims are Asian women who were coming home from shopping, usually carrying bags into their homes during the attacks.
In all but one case, the women were also tied up. Police say the suspect has also used a knife to threaten the women in each attack.
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Investigators also revealed that some of the victims had been shopping at Asian stores in Korea Town in Kearny Mesa before being attacked at their homes.
Captain Collins says it is possible the suspect may be watching the victims and then following them home after they finish shopping. That's why the surveillance video could be crucial because investigators believe the suspect may have used his own car to follow the victim in the most recent attack . If that's the case, then the suspects vehicle could be on the surveillance tape, said Captain Collins.
It's unclear if investigators are planning to release that video to the media once it is analyzed.
