Police suspect one assailant in attacks

New evidence shows one man may be responsible for three sexual assaults in Spokane Valley in December 2008 and September 2009, police said Wednesday.

The man is suspected of fondling women in unlocked homes in the North Pines Road and East Mansfield Avenue area Dec. 10, 2008, and Dec. 15, 2008, then attacking a woman in the 400 block of South Pines on Sept. 27, 2009. The woman was walking home about 2:30 a.m. when the man crossed Pines and grabbed her hair, police said.

The man threw the woman to the ground and tried to unbutton her pants; friends on the other end of her cell phone call heard the struggle.

The assailant is described as a white man, 28 to 30 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-10 and 150 to 170 pounds.

Police say their sketch is so accurate that a victim “was visibly shaken by the close resemblance.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.