Winfield Parents Frightened After Attack On Girl

Residents Say Victim Was 12

Reporting Kristyn Hartman

They know he’s out there. He allegedly sexually assaulted a young girl. Residents are scared. The attack happened in the western suburb of Winfield. CBS 2’s Kristyn Hartman was in the area where it happened. Walk around a part of Winfield, and you notice, something’s missing. On a sunny day, we found no activity in a certain neighborhood or park. Jennie Roy thinks she knows why there were no kids Monday.

She heard parents are keeping their children close because of a sexual assault last week in broad daylight. Police won’t say how old the victim is, but residents did.

“She’s 12,” Marcie Amici said. “She ’s very young. It’s a shame.”

Sketch of Offender

And she says it’s scary the girls attacker is still out there. Officers say the victim saw him back in the area – again mid-afternoon – three days after the alleged assault.

“It’s frightening, I think, to everyone,” Amici said.

She wishes she had seen or heard something. Her front door faces the path where the girl met violence, but the leaves there pretty much shield anybody’s view. On the other side of the hedgerow, the sightline dips.

“If you’re down low here, you couldn’t see anything,” Amici said.

She’s keeping the girl in her thoughts, and investigators are trying to find the man who harmed her. They’re posting his sketch at nearby stores. Meanwhile, a neighborhood that knew peace, and now knows worry, is locking up.

The attacker might be in his late teens or early twenties. He has a gold tooth on the lower right jaw, and he was wearing white gym shoes with black stripes.

Winfield Police say they investigate roughly three sexual assaults a year in their village of 10,000 people.

Video of Channel 2’s coverage of the attack Note: Run your mouse over the picture and push play.

UPDATE: Good Old Days

The six thousand dollars for Public Works and Police for Good Old Days was approved, 5 to 0 – With Trustee Martschinke abstaining due to his position as part of the Chamber and the potential for the appearance of a conflict of interest.