Authorities are asking for the public's continued help in finding an 'armed and dangerous' suspect wanted in connection with two violent sexual assaults, more than two months after the assaults occurred.
Jeremiah Williams, 24, is wanted for two August attacks: the University City sex assault and another assault that happened the day after at a Motel 6, according to San Diego Police Department Capt. Brian Ahearn.
Authorities are asking for the public's continued help in finding the suspect.
“We are still working the case and following up on leads that continue to come in," said SDPD Lt. Paul Phillips. He said they continue to work with the U.S. Marshal's Service.
Williams is described as being 5-foot, 11-inches and 180 pounds. He has the numbers "210" tattooed on his right wrist and an outline of the State of Texas tattooed on his left forearm. He also has wings tattooed on both upper arms.
Anyone who sees Williams is asked to call 911. Police believe he is still in the San Diego area.
Physical evidence from the scene of the first University City sex assault linked Williams as the suspect, Ahearn said.
The University City sex assault happened on Saturday, Aug. 13 when a woman was attacked at the Venetian Condominiums on Nobel Drive.
The woman had been dropped off outside the complex around 10:30 p.m. and was walking to her apartment when she thought someone was following her.
Before the victim could unlock her door, the man knocked her to the ground and asked her for money at gunpoint. After giving him the money, the woman was dragged into her apartment where police say she was beaten and sexually assaulted.
Three days after that incident, San Diego Police were called to Sharp Memorial Hospital for a report of a separate attack. A 23-year-old woman told police she had been violently sexually assaulted on Sunday, Aug. 14 at a Motel 6 on Alvarado Canyon Road in Mission Valley.
Local
"The suspect, who she had recently met, entered her room choked and sexually assaulted her and then hit her in the head with a hand gun," Ahearn said.
After the interview, sex crimes detectives went to the motel and collected evidence.
During their investigation, detectives found that officers initially responded to the incident at the motel as a report of a man hitting a woman.
Witnesses told police Sunday night they heard the victim yell for help, and the suspect fled on foot.
The Motel 6 manager told NBC 7 that the victim smashed a window in the room and drove off in a car before police arrived at the scene.
In a strange twist, investigators say police officers had the suspect in handcuffs after the second attack but weren't aware of the allegations until days later when the victim came forward.
Authorities located the suspect in a nearby canyon with a hand gun, Ahearn said. Initial statements given to California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers placed Williams at the scene, and he was cited with a misdemeanor gun charge and released.
It was only days later that police linked Williams as the suspect in the motel sex assault.
Physical evidence and victim interviews linked Williams to the Motel 6 sex assault and to the University City sex assault, Ahearn said.
The suspect remains at large; he is considered armed and dangerous. He has a criminal background in California and Texas.
