Man questioned in South Side sex assaults | Mom, daughter raped during home invasion; Girl, 14, raped hours later in Fernwood neighborhood

October 9, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Police are questioning a person of interest in two sexual assaults and home invasions in the Fernwood and Washington Heights neighborhoods on the city's South Side.

Late Wednesday night, a sexual assault victim and her family emerged from Area South Police headquarters. The family said the victim was able to postively identify the person of interest taken into custody by police. Police say the person of interest has lived in the area for nine to ten years and neighbors say police told them that the person was found with the cell phone of one of the victims.

A person of interest can be held for 48 hours before police must charge them with a crime or release them.

"But just knowing that that person stays two doors down from you and you never knew that he was capable of doing something like this is kind of scary," said Antonise Hammock, neighbor.

CAPS held a community meeting Wednesday night at 103rd and Peoria, where many concerned neighbors in the tight-knit Washington Heights community gathered.

"The [14]-year-old girl was getting raped in our backyard. My son, he saw her, and I went outside and chased him away," said Marilyn Cooper, cousin of sexual assault victim.

Police believe the same man is responsible for two sexual assaults and two home invasions just blocks apart in the Washington Heights and Fernwood neighborhoods.

The first attack occurred at home near 103rd and Emerald around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday in the Fernwood neighborhood. The family said a man used a garbage can to break in through a side window. He grabbed a kitchen knife, and used it as a weapon against a woman, 40, and her daughter, 21, while he raped them.

"He covered up her mouth. She called for her daughter. Her daughter came into the room. That's when he had the knife to her throat and he proceeded to go ahead and actually succeeded with the rape of both of them," a family member said.

Both women were treated at a local hospital.

"He raped both. They said he was strong, tall, thin with alcohol on his breath," a relative said. "She's scared because the guy told her that he come back if they called police and kill both of them."

Police believe the same man sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl around 7 a.m. near 101st and South Peoria. Police said she was walking to a bus stop when she was grabbed by a man, dragged into a yard, and raped at knifepoint. Officials believe he used the same knife stolen from the first sexual assault. A homeowner heard the girl scream.

"I saw the little girl with no shirt on and this little girl was saying he raped me, he raped me. We ran outside and couldn't find anything," Matthew Cooper, witness, said.

Between the two sexual assaults, police said the man may have also broken into another home, located at 101st and Green. Edward Whiten said his dog started growling around 5:30 a.m. when the intruder got in.

"He made it as far as my daughter's bedroom. He hid in my daughter's closest, as soon as she heard, she yelled. Something was wrong," Whiten said. The offender fled before injuring Whiten's daughter. He believes the suspect targeted his home because of his daughter's bedroom decorations that can be seen from the outside.

"She does have curtains that signifies that a young girl lives and that is what he went looking for," said Whiten.

The suspect got away, and no one in that home was injured.

"I heard the reports of the other incidents nearby, and I'm thankful we got a good break," Whiten said.

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