Tuesday, May 27 – Rape Suspect At Large

OCEAN CITY- The Ocean City Police this week are asking for the public’s help in identifying a male suspect who violently raped a woman early Saturday morning in the area of 49th Street.

The attack and rape occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. OCPD detectives are searching for a Hispanic male in his mid 20s. The suspect has short dark hair, around 5’7” to 6’ tall with an average build and possibly some facial hair. The suspect may have bruises or scars on both hands. At the time of the attack, he was wearing a light colored shirt with blue horizontal stripes, jeans and possibly sneakers.

The suspect was seen on 49th Street just prior to the attack and fled to the beach area after several citizens attempted to detain him. Several citizens reported seeing the suspect on 49th Street and later on the beach. The attack touched off a massive manhunt including helicopters, but the suspect has eluded capture and remains at large.

Anyone with information about the attack and/or the suspect’s identity or whereabouts is encouraged to contact the OCPD’s Criminal Investigation Division at (410) 723-6604, Detective First-Class Shawn Jones at (410) 723-6661, or the OCPD front desk at (410) 723-6610. Quite often, citizen hunches turn out to be valuable information for the police department. Anyone with information about the crime is also encouraged to call or leave an email at [email protected].

For more on this developing story and for all the news from this week, see Friday’s print or online editions of The Dispatch.