Following sexual assaults Cologne police searching for possible serial offender

Cologne · Cologne police are using photos from a surveillance camera to search for a man who is suspected of attacking at least ten women over a period of several years. The suspect is thought to be around 20 to 30-years-old and is accused of sexual harassment and two cases of rape.

Police report that the incidents show clear parallels with regard to the crime scenes and victims. The description of the perpetrator is also similar in all of the cases.

The Cologne police have set up an investigative unit and is exploring possible connections to other sex crimes. The crime scenes were in the following areas of Cologne: Neustadt-Süd, Altstadt-Süd, Sülz, Lindenthal und Klettenberg. Nearly all the victims were young female students who were attacked on their way home at night or early in the morning.

After evaluating all the cases, investigators are certain that the serial offender follows his victims, observing them and only attacking them shortly before they reach their apartments.

According to descriptions, the suspect is likely German. After the attack on a 23-year-old Cologne woman in the Sülz district on November 20, police picked up a trail. At about 4:40 am, a dark-haired man attacked the woman on Joseph-Stelzmann-Straße from behind and grabbed her in an intimate area. When she screamed, the man let her go.

Investigations revealed that the offender got out of the Line 9 tram at the Lindenburg stop, which is where the woman got out. He then followed her.

The man in the photo is about 1.75 meters tall and about 20 to 30-years-old. He is slim and wearing glasses.

On November 20, he was wearing a black hooded jacket and trousers. Cologne police are looking for witnesses who can provide information about the identity or location of the man.

Kriminalkommissariat 12 (Criminal Police Unit 12) can be contacted at (0221) 2290 or per e-mail: poststelle.koeln.nrw.de.

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