Despite 1 arrest, Frankford attacker still sought

Police are still searching for the rapist or rapists who have terrorized the Frankford section of Philadelphia even after a man was arrested there Saturday in a kidnapping and sex assault.

"We don't believe the person arrested is connected to the other incidents," said Lt. Dan Bagnall of the Special Victims Unit.

Bagnall said that although other victims have described the attacker as a thin male in his 20s, the man arrested Saturday, Korey Davis, 32, of the 1300 block of Kennedy Street, is heavyset.

Since June, there have been at least five sexual assaults in Frankford and one attack a few miles away in the Kensington section, police said. Five of the six sexual assaults happened last week.

Police say there's an emerging pattern, but it is still unclear whether there is one attacker or whether any of the attacks are related.

"We just don't know. There's similarities and dissimilarities," said Lt. Thomas McDevitt, also of the Special Victims Unit.

Some victims were attacked at gunpoint; one was threatened with a knife, he said. The height descriptions of the suspects also vary.

"We just want the public to be aware and on guard and to know that we need their help with this," McDevitt said. He said extra plainclothes officers and patrols had been assigned to Frankford.

The last three assaults happened within minutes of one another on Saturday morning and ended with the arrest of Davis, who was charged with rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, weapon possession and related counts. He remained in custody yesterday.

Police said Davis abducted a 33-year-old woman who had stepped outside her home for fresh air in the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue around 4:30 a.m.

Davis forced her into his car at gunpoint, drove her to his home a few blocks away, choked her until she was unconscious, and then raped her, according to police. She later escaped and called 911.

"Police came and arrested the man while he was still in his house," McDevitt said.

Around the same time as the abduction, a 20-year-old woman in the 3000 block of Jasper Street, a few miles away in Kensington, reported that a man had appeared in her bedroom and had "indecent contact" with her. Relatives were in her home.

About 30 minutes later, a 37-year-old woman was raped in her home, in the 1600 block of Dyre Street, in Frankford, police said. She told police a man had climbed into her upstairs window and attacked her from behind while her children were sleeping. He warned that he would kill her if she turned to look at his face and if she reported the attack to authorities, according to McDevitt.

The attacker also stole some personal identification items before fleeing, police said.

She described the man as a thin, 5-foot-11 black male with a medium complexion. He wore a dark hooded sweatshirt and white-and-silver high-top sneakers.

Police released a composite sketch yesterday of a person wanted in an attack on Thursday.

It happened around 10 p.m. in the 4700 block of Darrah Street. A 21-year-old woman reported that a man had followed her when she got off the Market-Frankford El at Margaret and Oxford Streets. He held a small, silvery handgun to her stomach and raped her, police said.

Police also are examining fingerprints and DNA recovered during an assault on Tuesday in the 1600 block of Wakeling Street. A 16-year-old girl told authorities that she was walking to her car near her home when a man with a small, silvery handgun forced her into her car, sexually assaulted her, and stole her purse.

The earliest attack also involved a 16-year-old victim. The girl told police that on June 11, about 1 a.m., she was raped in an alley behind a CVS drugstore in the 1100 block of Adams Avenue. She said the attacker held a knife to her throat.

Anyone with information on any of the assaults is asked to call police at 215-685-3251, 215-685-3252, or 215-685-3253.