Police, Sheriff’s Department investigate two rape reports in CdA

Two rapes were reported within six hours of each other in Coeur d’Alene late Thursday and early Friday. Detectives are still investigating whether they are related. A 52-year-old woman said two men attacked her while she walked her dog in a wooded area near Ponderosa Springs Golf Course around French Gulch Road and East Harrison Avenue at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office. That’s about five miles away from the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue, where a 26-year-old reported being sexually assaulted about 2 a.m. Friday. She told Coeur d’Alene police she was outside for a cigarette when a man grabbed her and forced her inside the home. At 12:39 a.m. in the 1100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, an older woman said she saw a man climbing through her kitchen window; he fled when her husband came in the room. Less than four minutes later and about a block away, in the 700 block of N. 11th Street, a woman reported a man peeking through her window. The reported rape about an hour later was up the street about a half mile. That assailant is described as white, in his late 20s or early 30s, 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. He has a pale complexion, short brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a vertically striped light blue and white shirt, khaki shorts and white athletic shoes. In the earlier case near French Gulch Road, the victim described one of the men as being older with shoulder-length gray or blonde hair that was cut short on top and wearing a multi-colored shirt and blue jeans. She was unable to identify the other suspect. The Sheriff’s Department and Coeur d’Alene Police Department are discussing whether the cases could be related, said sheriff’s Lt. Kim Edmondson. Anyone with information should call (208) 446-1300.