73-Year-Old Woman Raped in Central Park, Possibly As Some Sort of Sick Retaliation

A 73-year-old birdwatcher says that she was raped in Central Park — near Strawberry Fields and the famous Imagine mosaic — yesterday in broad daylight. The incident happened around 11 a.m.; and, according to NBC New York, the woman told investigators the man asked, “Do you remember me?”

CNN reports:

One theory, according to the police, is the assailant targeted the woman because she had taken a picture of him masturbating in the woods in early September and had refused his demand to delete the photo.

The woman described her attacker as being white, and clean shaven with a European accent, police said.

The woman was also beaten and robbed, according to reports. Another birdwatcher, Eric Ozawa, found her lying in the bushes. “I saw her face was badly beaten,” Ozawa told WABC. “She was swollen, her right eye was black, her forehead was swollen … She told me that she had been raped.”

Law enforcement is on the hunt for this man, whom they believe can be seen in surveillance video, and who may speak with a Russian accent.