LYNNWOOD — A man with a knife tried to rape a woman Wednesday morning in Meadowdale Beach Park, sparking a manhunt by ground, sea and air, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman reported she’d been sexually assaulted around 9 a.m. in a wooded area about 300 yards from the park’s trailhead, sheriff’s spokeswoman Courtney O’Keefe said.
The stranger was armed with a knife, according to the report. The woman escaped with scrapes and minor physical injuries. He ran off. The suspect was described as white, about 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2, with a thick build, a scarf around his neck, a dark hoodie and a baseball cap. He looked to be in his 30s.
A trail in Meadowdale Beach Park runs from the dead end of 156th Street SW to a beach northeast of Edmonds. A sheriff’s helicopter, a sheriff’s marine unit and police dogs from Seattle and Lynnwood converged on the woods. Police set up a perimeter and searched into the afternoon. But the man could not be found.
It’s the second report this week of an attempted rape by a stranger in Snohomish County.
On Monday, a man tried to rape an Everett Community College student, when he offered her a ride home and she got into his van, according to the woman’s report. Police didn’t note any apparent link between the two cases.
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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