Warrant issued for 'pantless rapist'

The attack was as bold as it was violent: A man raped, choked and beat a woman across the street from police headquarters.

Now, police say they have identified the "Pantless Rapist," so-called because he fled the scene without his pants when he heard the approaching sirens of police summoned by a witness who called 9-1-1.

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Alberto Isaac Navarette Suarez, 33, on attempted murder, rape and related charges. He's accused of dragging a 22-year-old woman, who was awaiting a SEPTA bus at 8th and Race streets, to a secluded area near the Broad-Ridge Spur subway entrance to sexually assault her about 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

Area surveillance cameras captured his flight: In the clearest video, a man sprints away barefoot, in white fitted boxer-briefs and a black shirt with white sleeves, heading toward 10th and Spring streets.

"This gal could have very well lost her life that night. He could have killed her," said Capt. John Darby, of the Special Victims Unit.

"We're not quite sure of his whereabouts, as we speak," Darby said of Suarez, a Mexican national who detectives believe was in the United States illegally.

Immigration officials placed him on a watch list.

Darby said Suarez is "transient in nature" and lived for a few months in South Philadelphia. His last known address was in the 2600 block of S. 7th Street.

When detectives first arrived on the scene, it seemed as if identifying the rapist would be a no-brainer: He left a wallet with $15 and a Mexican driver's license in the name of Dario Gómez Lopez, 35, of Puebla, Mexico.

But yesterday, Darby said the license is "bogus," and the name an alias.

Suarez is described as 5 feet 7 with a medium build and dark hair. Tipsters can call Detective Gage at the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251 or -3265.