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Searching for Columbia rape suspect

Thursday, April 19, 2007

(New York-WABC, April 19, 2007) (WABC) -- A career criminal is being sought in the rape and torture of a Columbia University student in her Hamilton Heights apartment.

Eyewitness News has learned 30-year-old William Roberts is wanted for questioning in the alleged horrific 19-hour attack on a 23-year-old journalism student last week.

Police say Roberts pushed his way into his victim's apartment at about 9:30 p.m. last Friday and attacked her.

Apparently, for the next 19 hours, she drifted in and out of consciousness. Meanwhile, using coaxial TV cable, police say he tied her to a futon bed in her living room and raped, sodomized and tortured her.

Then before he left, police say the suspect poured bleach and boiling water on her in an attempt to destroy any DNA evidence. If that wasn't enough, police say he then set fire to a corner of the futon where one of her hands was tied.

"I think this guy is a psycho. That's very scary that he would actually just walk out like that and like, leave her there..I think that's very scary," said Hamilton Heights resident, Johanna Palacio.

According to police reports, Roberts is known to frequent homeless shelters in the area. He is described as a black man, 5'9" tall and weighing 170 pounds.

Authorities received about two dozen calls from tipsters, mostly Hamilton Heights residents, who said they saw the rapist hanging around the neighborhood before the crime.

Most recently police received a report of a person who fit Roberts' description, at the Apple Tree Supermarket, next to Columbia's campus on 120th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, at 2:40 a.m. yesterday morning.

Detectives closed the deli for several hours and are reviewing surveillance camera footage. University officials notified students of the possible sighting in an e-mail.

Resident who live nearby are shaken by the whole thing.

Another resident Laura Freeman said, "I thought it was horrible when I read about it, I really did. I thought it was horrible. I said, 'who could do such a thing, who could do that?' "

Police are offering a $12,000 reward for his capture.

Police have been working with on tips from several people who know Roberts.

As for Roberts' criminal past, we now know he once served seven years in state prison -- the charge, attemped murder. But he was released in 2004. Then in 2006, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, was sentenced to only four months and released.

Anyone with information is asked to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-577-TIPS. All calls remain confidential.

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