Campbell County investigators were back on the streets Wednesday morning looking for information about a man who tried to snatch a teenage girl Tuesday.
Investigators there and in Lynchburg also are comparing notes on abduction attempts at Lynchburg College last summer.
“We’re looking to other jurisdictions that have similar complaints,” Campbell County Maj. L.T. Guthrie said. “To say whether there’s a connection there or not, we can’t at this point.”
The high school-aged girl was attacked outside her home in the 10000 block of Wards Road near Yellow Branch Elementary School around 7:45 a.m., Guthrie said Tuesday. The girl told investigators a white man with a stocky build wearing a mask and dark clothing ambushed her as she came out of the house, grabbing her from behind before she was able to escape.
On Aug. 29, a female student at the college reported being grabbed from behind by a 240-pound white man while walking on Lakewood Street around 10:30 p.m. She told police he tried to pull her down into the street, but she was able to escape by striking him.
Less than two weeks later, on Sept. 10, a female student spotted a man hiding in the bushes near Hundley Hall just before midnight. When confronted, the man ran off in the direction of the school’s soccer field.
A few minutes later, another female student was grabbed from behind as she left her car in a parking lot behind the field. She reported the man — this time described as being a white man weighing 200 pounds or more wearing black clothing, possibly a hooded sweatshirt and brown military-style boots — tried to drag her into the woods before she escaped.
In the Campbell County case, the attacker was described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall. In the Lynchburg cases, the man was described as being taller — about 6 feet tall.
Lynchburg police Detective Glenn Anderson said the Lynchburg College case is considered cold, but the similarities were obvious enough the case file was copied and sent to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday morning.
“We don’t know there’s any connection,” Anderson said. “If there is, we’ll be working together and giving them any assistance we can.”
He said Lynchburg investigators were never able to conclusively connect even the Lynchburg cases to the same suspect.
Meanwhile, in Campbell County, investigators are asking for anyone with information to contact them at (434) 592-9574 or anonymously through Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.
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