Police Say Series Of Rapes Apparently Unrelated

Five rapes in a neighborhood in this Seattle suburb appear to be unrelated because of significant differences in the method, nature of the attacks and descriptions of attackers, police said.

The attacks, four within the past month, apparently have only timing and location in common, King County Police spokeswoman Jerrell Wills said Friday.

Wills said investigators had a solid lead in an attack in November but none in the more recent rapes.

All involve women in single-gamily homes and apartments near the intersection of South 272nd Street and Star Lake Road. Two were seized in the dark on a path between an apartment house and a convenience store, one by two attackers and the other by a lone assailant, Wills said.

In the most recent attack, a woman said a man broke into her apartment and raped her Wednesday. The rape in November followed a break-in in the same complex, but Wills said there was no apparent link between the two.