The New York Police Department (NYPD) is offering a $10,000 reward for the “animal” who reportedly tied up two 13-year-olds and sexually assaulted one of them.
The unnamed suspect — described as having curly hair, braces, and a tattoo of a boar or a bull — reportedly forced a girl and boy, both 13, to follow him into a secluded area of the woods on Thursday, according to NYPD officers investigating the incident, NBC New York reported.
The boy and girl say they refused at first, but the suspect then pulled out a knife and led them to a tucked-away corner of the woods. The suspect allegedly tied the teens’ wrists with a shoelace and molested the young girl.
An official with the NYPD described the suspect as being an “animal,” according to the outlet.
“As a father, a member of this department for many years, this is a parents’ nightmare — and all the communities should be very upset about this and willing to come out and help the police department as we try to resolve this issue,” Jeffrey Maddrey, the Chief of Department for the NYPD, said in a statement. “We will spare no expense. We will use every investigative resource.”
Maddrey continued to plead for the community to help the NYPD “bring closure to this case” for the two kids and their families.
The children had reportedly been at a field in Kissena Park, located in the neighborhood of Flushing in Queen’s when the incident occurred.
They were reportedly instructed by the suspect to stay where they were for 20 minutes after the incident. They then went back to school and told school administrators what happened, according to the NYPD.
The outlet added that while the NYPD does not “yet have footage” of the suspect, he has been described as “about 5 feet 5 inches tall and in his 20s with a heavy accent”:
Detective say they don’t yet have footage of their suspect and are conducting a video canvas of the area in hopes of capturing his image. He is described as being about 5 feet 5 inches tall and in his 20s with a heavy accent. He wore braces on his teeth and he had a tattoo of a boar or a bull with red eyes on his chest, according to police. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, black sweatpants and red sneakers, and was carrying a green backpack.
Crime data for New York City for the week of June 3 to June 9 shows that there were roughly 41 rape-related incidents in 2024, compared to the same week in 2023 when there were 27 rape incidents reported. There were also roughly 125 other sex crimes reported between June 3 and June 9 of this year, while there were 102 other sex crimes reported during the same time frame in 2023.