
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 18, 1995                   TAG: 9507180089
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

S.W. ROANOKE WOMAN REPORTS RAPE AT HOME

A 36-year-old Southwest Roanoke woman said a man walked into her apartment through an unlocked door and raped her early Monday.

Police gave this account of what happened: About 1 a.m., a man walked into the woman's ground-floor apartment, saying he wasn't going to hurt her and that he wanted something to eat. The man unplugged the woman's telephone and answering machine.

The woman attempted to run out the door, but the man dragged her back inside and raped her. During the offense, the woman asked the man to use a condom, telling him he would find some in a nearby closet. When he walked to the closet, the woman ran from the apartment and escaped.

The man soon fled the apartment, taking the woman's purse. An officer later recovered the purse in an alley near the woman's residence.

The woman was taken to Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley and released.

by CNB