Ewu Student Raped At Unknown Home

Police are investigating a report that an Eastern Washington University freshman was raped over the weekend, police officials said.

An 18-year-old woman preparing to start her first year at EWU went to Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane Sunday and reported she had been raped the night before, Cheney Police Chief Greg Lopes said.

The woman told responding Cheney police that she and a group of other students had attended a party at a private residence off campus where she met a man who told her his name was Scott, Lopes said. She said she accompanied the man to a nearby house, where he forced her to have sex.

She said she did not know the man’s last name or where the party and the man’s house were located, although she believed the two residences are within a block of each other, Lopes said.

Based on her description of the area, police think she might have been in the neighborhood north of the university campus and near the city’s swimming pool at 711 Cedar.

Lopes said the woman, who lived in a dorm, was not intoxicated that night.

Police are attempting to locate the man, based on a description the woman provided, Lopes said.

The man was described as white, about 24 years old, 6 feet tall, 170 pounds with blondish brown hair and earrings in both ears. She said he was wearing a gray sweater and khaki slacks the night of the party.

“It also appears that the suspect was not a student, although he might have been at one time,” Lopes said.

University police are assisting in the investigation, and the university is providing counseling for the student and her family, EWU Police Chief Tom McGill said. He said Tuesday that the student had not yet decided whether to come back to school.

Classes started Wednesday.

Police ask that anyone who attended the party or otherwise has information contact Cheney Police Detective Rick Campbell at 235-7269.