The University of Georgia police have released a sketch of a man who threatened to rape a woman at the Georgia Botanical Gardens in Athens.
About 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 18, officers responded to a call at the gardens on South Milledge Avenue, police said.
The woman, a 19-year-old UGA student, told officers that a man pulled a knife on her as she was walking on a trail at the garden. The man, she said, threatened to rape and cause her bodily harm.
But the student was able to escape uninjured and fled to a safe location, police said.
The suspect was described as a white male, approximately 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall and weighing 150 to 170 pounds. He had short, sandy blond hair, crooked teeth and possibly two small moles on the lower left side of his face, police said.
He was wearing blue sweatpants, a hooded green and white sweatshirt, white running shoes and black sunglasses. The knife was described as an orange pocket or utility knife, police said.
UGA police and Oconee County Sheriff’s deputies searched the area after the incident but did not find the suspect.
UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that officers canvassed the area around the gardens on Friday and would continue to “beat the bushes” this week, talking with residents and business people.
He said his department had received a few tips, but they failed to pan out.
Chief Williamson told the AJC that it’s the first time in his 25 years with the UGA police that an incident of this kind has taken place at the botanical gardens.
He said there is no reason for visitors to be concerned about visiting the gardens but said, “I would tell people to use general precautions anywhere they are.”
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the UGA police at (706) 542-0090.
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