Listen to a podcast with Chief of Police Kathy Zoner

The Cornell University Police Department is investigating a reported attempted rape that occurred on the Trolley Bridge that connects Oak Avenue to the Engineering Quad at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26. This latest incident follows a report of harassment and two sexual assaults, including a reported rape, Sept. 2.

According to a crime alert issued to the campus, the female victim reported the incident to Cornell Police Sept. 27. She said that she was walking across the Trolley Bridge when she was grabbed from behind by an unknown male who attempted to drag her into the wooded area south of the bridge, while making statements indicating he was going to rape her. The victim reported that she fought with the perpetrator and successfully fled after striking him. The victim did not report any physical injuries.

The attacker is described as a white male, about 6 feet tall, with a thin build, weighing between 180 and 200 pounds. He had dark hair, appeared to be in his late 30s, and was last seen wearing a dark suit jacket with light colored pants. The suspect fled in an unknown direction.

The police investigation is continuing. Anyone with information related to this crime or the other incidents should contact Cornell University Police at 607-255-1111.

Commenting on the status of the investigations, Cornell Police Chief Kathy Zoner said: "First, I want to express my profound empathy and my heartfelt gratitude to the survivors of these assaults. These types of crimes -- especially sexual assaults -- are notoriously underreported. Current estimates are that over two-thirds of sexually motivated crimes are never reported to the police. The increased number of reports we have experienced here at Cornell tell me that our community is increasingly confident in coming forward and reporting these crimes. The courageous people who have taken the time to do so and who have continued to work with law enforcement officials investigating these incidents are my personal heroes. Because of them, we have information, evidence and necessary leads for furthering all of our investigations."

The campus community has been engaged in active conversation about the recent sexually motivated crimes, and bias motivated crimes that happened earlier in the semester. At a Sept. 24 forum with students, faculty, staff and administrators, students asked for greater clarity around follow-up processes after an incident has occurred.

"As much as we would like to share more about our investigative efforts, doing so would interfere with, and greatly decrease our ability to, apprehend the persons responsible for these reprehensible acts," Zoner said. "We are very actively working on all of the recently reported unsolved crimes associated with the crime alerts, and we will continue to follow up on any leads we receive. As always, we seek your engagement and ask that anyone who has any information that might add to our investigations -- no matter how insignificant it might seem to be -- to please bring that information to us."

Resources for support, avenues for reporting and opportunities for engagement are available on the Caring Community website.