Police release sketch of suspected Kensington rapist

Police have released a sketch of a man wanted in the gunpoint abduction and rape last week of a 22-year-old woman in Kensington, as well as a video of the van believed to have been used in the attack.

Police said the victim was walking east on the 2000 block of East York Street about 5:30 a.m. Friday when a man forced her at gunpoint into an early 1990s Dodge or Chrysler van. The backseats in the vehicle had been removed.

The man then drove to an unknown location and sexually assaulted the woman inside the vehicle, police said. He released her at Almond and York Streets in Kensington.

The suspect was described as Hispanic or light-skinned mixed-race, 21 to 25 years old, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10, 160 pounds with a medium build. He had short brown hair and a thin mustache with a narrow strip of hair on his chin, and was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Anyone with information is being asked to call the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251 or -3263. Tips also may be submitted by phone at 215-686-8477 or by text to 773847. - Inquirer staff