MANHATTAN — Police have switched their focus in a 2012 West Village massage parlor rape after DNA evidence cleared the initial suspect, sources said.
The NYPD released surveillance footage Thursday night of a man they said beat and raped a 41-year-old woman inside a massage parlor at 85 Washington Place, near Sixth Avenue, about 10 a.m. on Aug. 17.
A video of the incident, which sparked outrage in the community at the time, shows the suspect dragging the woman by her arm down a hall.
The suspect fled after robbing the parlor, and the woman was treated at Beth Israel Hospital, the NYPD said.
Investigators initially suspected Zhordrack Blodywon, who was arrested aboard a Long Island bus three months later because he was connected to a string of similar incidents, police said.
About three months after the Village attack, Blodywon beat and raped a 55-year-old woman in a Flushing massage parlor at 35-32 Union St. about midnight, police and prosecutors said.
She was treated at New York Hospital Queens for bruises to her face and arms, along with injuries to her lungs and ribs, prosecutors said.
Days later, on Oct. 20, he held-up the Butterfly Massage Parlor, also on Union Street, and ran off with two women's cell phones about midnight, officials said.
Someone identified Blodywon through an anonymous tip that allowed investigators to distribute his photo and name, police said.
Then about 13 hours later, he walked into a massage parlor at 107 Northern Boulevard, in Great Neck, Long Island, about 1:10 p.m., but a clerk there recognized him and called the police, who picked him up 10 minutes later on a bus nearby, officials said.
He was carrying his victims' cellphones, eight air pistols, air cartridges and a hunting knife, police and prosecutors said.
Blodywon was charged with the other incidents, but his DNA did not match the West Village attacker's, sources said.
The Village attack shocked the neighborhood and prompted City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who represents the area, to pass out fliers with a sketch of the attacker and his description.
He was described in his early 20s, standing about 6 feet, and was last seen wearing a Kangol-style hat, T-shirt, camouflage shorts and carrying a backpack, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).
