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Woman, 95, Sexually Assaulted; Community Urges Attacker to Turn Himself in

By Quinn Ford | February 5, 2014 12:31pm | Updated on February 5, 2014 3:03pm
 The Rev. Donald Smith (c.) stands with family members of a 95-year-old Morgan Park woman who was sexually assaulted Tuesday evening.
The Rev. Donald Smith (c.) stands with family members of a 95-year-old Morgan Park woman who was sexually assaulted Tuesday evening.
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DNAinfo/Quinn Ford

MORGAN PARK — Community members are urging a man who sexually assaulted a 95-year-old woman Tuesday evening to turn himself in to police.

Family members of the woman said a man claiming to be a friend of her recently deceased son came to her door Tuesday evening to offer his condolences.

When the woman opened the door, the man forced himself inside, picked up the woman, beat her and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the home, they said.

Police were called about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday to the home in the 1100 block of West 110th Place in Morgan Park, and authorities took the woman to Metro South Medical Center to be treated for her injuries.

The woman was bruised around her ribs, and her face was swollen from being punched, said her granddaughter, Brandie Clark.

Clark said her grandmother said she had seen her attacker from time to time with her son, whom family called "Junior." Her son, who is Clark's father, died in December.

Clark said following the attack, her grandmother was struggling to understand what had happened.

"She just kept saying, 'Junior's friend beat and raped me. How is that his friend?'" Clark said.

But Clark said Wednesday her grandmother's "spirits are high" as she recovered at her Morgan Park home.

"It's one day at a time," Clark said. "But she's doing better than I am."

Area South detectives are investigating the case, said Officer Michael Sullivan, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.

The Rev. Donald Smith, who was with the family Wednesday, called for the attacker to turn himself in to police.

"It's unfathomable," he said. "You just wouldn't think someone who could use the word 'friend' could be so deceptive."

Clark's grandmother declined to be interviewed, but Smith and family members said they wanted her attacker, who family and police say is between the ages of 35-45 years old, to know police are searching for him.

Smith said what happened "will not go unpunished," and he wants to be sure no other sexual assaults on elderly women will happen.

"We're not angry with you," Smith said of the Morgan Park woman's attacker. "We want you to turn yourself in to get the help you need."