At least two women have been accosted near the University of Arizona this month, prompting school and local police to beef up their presence and search for a potential kidnapper, authorities said Wednesday.
There will be more patrols out in the community, along with officers at a distance keeping an eye out for the attacker, campus police chief Chris Olson said.
"High visibility patrol engagements will occur within the surrounding areas," he told reporters. "We want to balance that with our surveillance techniques as well."
The suspect has been linked to a dark blue, four-door car — possibly an early 2000s Toyota Camry and Corolla with a fading Arizona license place, according to Chris Dennison, assistant police chief of the Tucson Police Department.
The suspect's car could have a dented front bumper and tinted windows, Dennison added.
The most recent incident was on Monday at about 6 p.m. MST when a woman said she was groped near East 7th Street and North Vine Avenue just south of campus, officials said.
"The suspect description and circumstances were similar to the previous abduction attempts from" Dec. 6 and 7, according to a Tucson Police Department statement.
A woman "noticed a vehicle was following her" on Dec. 7 near East 8th Street and North Mountain Avenue before that "male suspect parked the vehicle, got out, and grabbed the victim from behind," police said.
She dropped to the ground and "started screaming," prompting him to let go, run back to his car and drive away, police said.
That attacker might be the same person behind a "similar incident" one day earlier just east of campus, police said, when a woman was followed by a man near North Campbell Avenue and East 3rd Street.
