DATE: Tuesday, November 11, 1997            TAG: 9711110282
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

ASSAULT VICTIM DESCRIBES MEN NOW SOUGHT BY INVESTIGATORS

Authorities have released a sketch of a dark-haired male suspect they believe was involved in a sexual assault on a 35-year-old woman Saturday.

National Park Service and Dare County investigators are also looking for a second suspect in the attack. Investigators said the victim could not provide sufficient information on the second suspect for a sketch. They said the man had blond hair and was called ``Smokey Joe'' by his accomplice.

Officials said two men in a van met the woman at Kelly's in Nags Head. They said the rape occurred between midnight and 3 a.m.

The woman said she was dumped from the van near Boat Ramp No. 4 on Bodie Island. She ran across N.C. Highway 12 to the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center and called police.

The man in the sketch has brown, shoulder-length hair. He is believed to be about 5 feet 10 inches tall and to weigh about 165 pounds. He was described as wearing a military-style camouflage jacket.

The other man is described as having shoulder-length, dark-blond hair. The victim recalls him as stocky and as being between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 10inches tall. The woman could provide no other details about the second suspect.

``She was still traumatized when we talked to her,'' said Bodie Island Ranger Mike Anderson.

There is a possibility the two men, who were reportedly in a late-model dark blue or black van, were from Virginia.

``She remembered that the plate was light and that the numbers were dark,'' said National Park Service Enforcement Specialist Paul Stevens. ``We also know that the tail lights on the vehicle were square.''

The van is described as having a sliding side door with no glass. Square panes of glass are set in the back doors of the van.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to call the National Park Service at (919) 473-2111, ext. 138, or Leary Sink of the Dare County Sheriff's Office at (919) 441-1451, or the Dare County Crime Line at (919) 473-3111 or 1-800-745-CRIME. KEYWORDS: SEX CRIME

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