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Deputies Have Warrant In Library Attack

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

A library patron walks past a book drop box outside the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library on Friday afternoon. A high school student was attacked while returning books at the after-hours depository on Thursday night.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE and MIKE WELLS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 25, 2008

Updated: 04/25/2008 11:34 pm

VALRICO - Investigators, armed with a search warrant, are looking tonight for a suspect in the rape and beating of a high school student who was dropping off books at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's chief deputy Jose Docobo said after 11 p.m. that a judge had just signed a search warrant and that deputies were looking for a man they had spoken to earlier in the day but had not at the time considered a suspect.

"We have confidence that we can get our hands on him," he said.

Docobo said deputies found the victim's purse in a wooded area immediately west of where the attack occurred. Items it contained were found scattered around. The evidence was airlifted away to be analyzed.

Public Works crews were called in to cut away some of the vegetation so that deputies could search more easily, he said.

The victim is clinging to life at Tampa General Hospital, unconscious and unable to tell her story. Docobo said it was hard to determine if her injuries came from a weapon.

"We have virtually nothing to go on in terms of direct information from the victim," said Docobo, who said a sense of personal obligation prompted him to visit the girl's family at the hospital today.

"They are beside themselves," Docobo said of the parents. "I assured them we will do everything we can to solve this for them."

The victim arrived at the library in a white Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle Thursday night to drop off books in the after-hours depository, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

She was talking on her cell phone to a female friend and mentioned there was a "weird" man sitting on a bench nearby, he said. The friend then heard the teenager scream, and the call was lost.

The girl's family and friends rushed to the library and found the victim about 200 feet from her car, Callaway said. A 911 call was placed at 11:43 p.m.

The victim was unconscious, and she had several broken bones in her face, Callaway said. She was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition.

The victim is originally from Baltimore, according to a family friend. She turned 18 on April 22 and is a student-athlete at a local high school who is planning to attend the University of Florida.

The sheriff's office has released a portion of the 911 call in which the friend can be heard shrieking as she describes for an operator what happened.

"My friend came to the library to drop off books," the voice said. "There was a weird guy here, but she still got out of her car … All I heard was screaming and the phone got disconnected and we drove up here because I was worried. … Her car was here with emergency lights and there's blood all over the floor!"

The friend told the operator that it had been about 20 minutes since she lost contact with the victim. She saw the victim's cell phone on the Toyota's floor. It was ringing, but no one touched it, she said.

Before losing the call, the victim's friend heard a dinging sound, possibly a car-door chime, Docobo said. It is unclear whether the victim stepped out of her vehicle before the incident or if she was pulled out, Docobo said.

By early this afternoon, investigators had taped off the drive-through in front of the library and expanded their search to the fields north of the library with deputies on their hands and knees are searching the field.

About 100 deputies, ranging from cadets to a dive team to motorcycle patrol officers, took part in the search for the attacker or any evidence.

"This is a significant drain on our resources," Docobo said.

He said from about 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., deputies will set up units along Bloomingdale Avenue to stop people and see whether anyone has any information.

Deputies have interviewed every neighbor within a half-mile radius of the library and knocked on the doors of registered sex offenders living in the area, he said.

"We have to believe someone in the public may have seen an individual wandering in the area," Docobo said.

Bill Gray, who lives near the library, said everyone he has talked to is horrified.

"It's real scary," he said.

Gray's wife, Lisa, works at a nearby Wal-Mart and often is at the store early in the morning when it's still dark. "It makes you wonder with all the empty houses around what that does to the crime in the area," Bill Gray said.

Thursday night's search and the continued activity today frightened Betty Austin. Austin was staying at her boyfriend's home on Blowing Oak Street Thursday night and watched the searchers. Detectives were on the scene until 4 a.m. this morning collecting evidence.

"The helicopter was here late," she said. "I was scared. I think it was a totally random attack. That's late to be sitting on a bench."

Regina Fox also lives in the neighborhood. "I told my granddaughter how a simple thing can go bad," she said.

Fox wondered whether the girl was dropping off a book at night because the book depository is closed during normal library hours.

"We use the library continually, and it's hard to get in and out just to return a book," Fox said. She said she now goes to the library before it opens so she can use the book depository and doesn't have to park and go inside.

People in surrounding communities were also disturbed by the attack.

Vicki Inganmort was taking no chances she said after hearing about the high school student being attacked.

"I walked my dogs with a can of mace in my pocket this morning," she said. "I was really devastated, freaked out. It is pathetic that this could happen."

The library, which opened in 2005, is considered a safe place by residents.

"That place is so beautiful," said Mary Daschke of Valrico. "You would never think of someone hanging out there to do something like that."

The attack seemed out-of-place for the suburban community, one resident said.

"It used to be that when you heard about bad things happening, it was so far away that it seemed like it was in outer space," said Kathy Urscheler of Valrico. "Bad things are getting closer and closer to home. It is getting really scary."

Urscheler said her thoughts went out to the victim's parents.

"I can't imagine what they are going through," she said, adding that her own daughters were grown and gone.

"Who would have thought to be afraid of letting your daughter go to the library?" she asked. "In our day, we would let them walk to the library by themselves."

The fact that the victim was talking on her cell phone may have made her especially vulnerable, retired FBI profiler Joe Navarro said.

People are distracted driving and talking on cell phones and even more distracted walking, Navarro said. "This is something definitely that predators look for, when you're weak," Navarro said. "You're weak carrying packages in your hand. Usually, you're holding your cell phone in your strongest hand. This is like a welcome sign for predators."

Navarro said this is a phenomenon that law enforcement first noticed about 10 years ago. Predators keep an eye out for people who lack situational awareness. To predators, potential victims walking and talking on the phone are "a welcome delight."

The victim did not attend Bloomingdale High School, but because the attack happened next door the Hillsborough County School District sent a letter to parents home with students explaining the situation, spokesman Steve Hegarty said.

Hegarty said that the team that counsels students and staff after a crisis was placed on standby early this morning. He was unsure whether it had been dispatched to the high school.

"They already have counselors there, and that's the first line," he said. "That's the way we handle it. If they need help, the crisis team is sent out."

The library sits in a relatively isolated area with fields on two sides and no surveillance cameras outside.

Joe Stines, director of Hillsborough County Public Library services, was shaken by the news.

"We've never had an incident like this at our libraries," he said. "It's unimaginable. I'm speechless. We're so sad for her and her family."

Stines said all the lights were working Thursday night. "It's the most lighting we could offer based on neighborhood rules," he said.

The library was open today and patrons wandered up the walkway to the doors with books in their arms and worried looks on their faces.

"They should have security. It's horrible," said Romana Ferrari, who came to this branch of the library for the first time today for a nutrition workshop. "You have to have security everywhere – whatever they can do to prevent this from happening again."

Docobo said detectives did interview a woman who said she was accosted shortly before the library attack, but that her incident did not appear to be connected to this case.

He said her account of events was "substantially different" than what had been told to a reporter.

Detectives hope somebody saw something or heard something that will help them catch the attacker, sheriff's Maj. Paul Davis said.

"We just need anybody to call. Rumors, talks, we'll look at everything," Davis said.

Anyone with information should call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200.

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Tribune reporters Liz Bleau, Keith Morelli and Elaine Silvestrini and News Channel 8 reporters Chip Osowski and Jeff Patterson contributed to this report.

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