INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police are looking for a man they’re calling a “person of interest” in a rape investigation.
Now, the victim of that rape is talking with 13News about what she went through and asks for anyone who has information to contact police to help with the investigation.
IMPD released a surveillance photo that shows the person of interest standing in the lobby of the Dialysis Center Inc. in the 1700 block of West 10th Street. The victim told police a man attacked her on Nov. 18 in the bathroom of the clinic.
“I feel dirty. I feel ashamed,” the victim told 13News reporter Emily Longnecker.
13News agreed to withhold the woman’s name and image, and 13News has changed the sound of her voice in her interview to protect her identity.
Despite continued fear about her safety, the woman said she wants to talk about what happened to her as a way to help solve her own case and to prevent other attacks from happening.
"I feel like I have to look over my shoulders all the time,” she said as she explained what happened the day she was attacked.
She said it happened in the bathroom of a clinic where she regularly takes clients for medical care.
“Just as I got done and unlocked the door, he snatched the door open, rushes in, covers my mouth, turns the light off and I was in fear of my life,” she said.
The woman said she screamed for help.
“He told me if I kept screaming, he was going to stab me,” she said.
The woman said the man raped her. He was wearing a mask and turned off the lights to the bathroom. She didn’t see what he looked like and does not know if the person of interest whose photo was shared by IMPD on social media is the man who attacked her.
She does remember, before he left the bathroom, the man asked if she needed a cab to go to work. When the woman left the bathroom, she said he was gone. She called 911 and went to see if a receptionist was in the lobby. No one was there.
The woman said she’s been to the clinic many times with the patients she cares for and had planned to bring a client there later. That morning, she told 13News, she was riding the bus to a client’s home but stopped at the clinic first because she had to use the bathroom.
“I was thinking it was a safe place to go and use the restroom and trust everything would be OK,” she explained.
But that’s when she said she was raped.
She went to Eskenazi Hospital, where nurses performed a rape kit. IMPD opened an investigation.
Still in disbelief about what happened, she said, “I was one of those people that said, 'This will never happen to me.'”
“It’s a very concerning case that our detectives are continuously working,” IMPD Ofc. William Young said about the investigation.
IMPD hoped their post showing the person of interest would give them leads to find her attacker. The woman also recalled talking to a man earlier that day at the transit center downtown.
“He started talking to me, and the last words I remember were, 'I’m going to get on the bus with you,'” she explained.
After that encounter, the woman said she didn’t pay any attention to what that man did or whether he got off at the same bus stop that she did. Now, her one focus is making sure her alleged attacker is caught before he can hurt anyone else.
“As long as he’s free in the world, I believe he’s going to do this to someone else,” she worried. “I wake up with it on my mind, and I go to sleep with it on my mind.”
It’s making sleepless nights even more difficult as she fights Stage 4 breast cancer and continues to try to work.
“It’s so terrible. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” she said.
For now, she can’t get back on the bus.
“There’s no way,” she said firmly, not while her alleged attacker is still out there.
She’s not sure what she’s going to do but said talking about what happened is the first step to healing.
“I want to be that person who speaks out for those who are afraid to speak out. I want to do whatever it takes to gain my power back and to help others,” she said.
Her alleged attacker may have taken her sense of safety, but she said he’s not taking her voice, too.
13News reached out to the Dialysis Clinic Inc. where the woman said the attack happened. The company sent this statement:
"The safety of our patients, staff and visitors is our highest priority and DCI is cooperating fully with investigators. For more information, please contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.”