FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A woman who reported being sexually battered by an armed burglar last week told Local 10 News in an exclusive interview Wednesday that she is “lucky” to be alive.
Detective Ali Adamson, a spokesperson with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, said it happened at 7:30 p.m. on Friday inside an apartment near the 5900 block of Northwest 18th Avenue.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Local 10 News’ Rosh Lowe that she was inside the bedroom of her apartment when an armed burglar entered her home through the front door.
The woman told Local 10 News after the man entered the victim’s bedroom, he jumped on her and said, “If you don’t let me do what I want to do, I’m going to kill you.”
Local 10 News reporter Rosh Lowe spoke with the victim outside of a hospital where she was going under treatment for leukemia.
The woman said after begging the man to stop and telling him that she was a cancer patient, he told her “I don’t care what you are.”
Investigators said the man fled the apartment northbound down the hallway after the incident occurred.
Detectives said they have not been able to obtain enough information about the suspect to have a sketch completed and do not have any video of the armed burglar that can be shared at this time.
The armed burglar has been described by police as a man in his 30s, about 6 feet tall, with dreadlocks and a muscular build.
The woman had one final message for her attacker before finishing her interview with Local 10 News: “I am a fighter and I will fight for him until I find him, they’ll find him.”
The FLPD is urging others to review their surveillance camera systems to see if they may have captured the armed burglar in the area around the time of the crime.
Anyone who has video of the individual matching the description above is urged to contact Detective Sergeant Hector Martinez at 954-828-5510 or email Detective Christopher Chylack at CChylack@fortlauderdale.gov.
Information can also be provided anonymously by contacting Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Local 10 News reporter Saira Anwer contributed to this story.