Authorities Search for Perpetrators of Three Assaults

Police are on the lookout for the perpetrators of three separate assaults against women—two of whom were minors—in public spaces throughout Cambridge earlier this week.

The Cambridge Police Department has increased patrols following the recent string of assaults—which police believe to be unrelated, according to spokesman Daniel M. Riviello—and relased two citizen alerts, warning readers against wearing headphones and advising women to avoid walking ouside alone.

The most recent of the assaults took place at around 9:50 a.m. yesterday, when a 15-year-old girl was accosted by a man on Fulkerson Street, less than two miles east of Harvard Square. After trying to lure the victim with candy, the suspect grabbed her hand. When she attempted to move away from him, he jogged toward her and grabbed her hand again.

The victim described the suspect as a 45-year-old white man between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-7, who possessed a cane and had blond hair with a bald patch near the front of his head.

Earlier that morning, a 16-year-old girl was assaulted on a Red Line train at the Kendall T station. At about 12:25 a.m., a man reached for the front of her shirt, pulled it down, and grabbed her right breast, according to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police.

Security cameras captured an image of the suspect—who was described by the victim as a 6-foot-tall white man between 23 and 27 years of age with short blond hair, blue eyes, and no facial hair—and the MBTA Transit Police posted the picture on its website and on "Wanted" posters.

Both of these assaults came a day after a woman was attacked while jogging near Kinglsey Park, about a mile away from the Quad. Upon seeing the jogger pass him, the assailant followed her and threw her down to the ground, according to the CPD alert. The victim, who did not sustain any injuries, described the assailant as a 5-foot-9 white man with a dark buzz cut.

Following the Kinglsey Park incident, the Cambridge police released a set of guidelines for those who walk and jog outdoors, such as varying one’s route, exercising with a friend in a known area, wearing bright clothing, and carrying pepper spray or a personal safety alarm.

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.