PHOENIX — Phoenix police are looking for a homeless man accused of choking and raping a woman after she left work last week.
Teresa Steen owns Amigo Animal Clinic near Cave Creek and Greenway roads. Last Thursday, she said the unthinkable happened.
Steen said a homeless man was spotted touching himself as he watched children play at a daycare next door.
“Right here in our parking lot, in broad daylight where every single person walking in or driving in could see him, pants down around his ankles,” said Steen.
That’s when one of Steen’s employee’s, a female vet tech, chased him off.
“They had words and he jumped over the fence and headed in that direction,” said Steen pointing over the wall and down an alleyway.
Just hours later, as that same employee was leaving work through the back door of the business, the man returned.
She said the suspect came from behind a nearby RV and ambushed the employee.
“He was hiding just waiting for her. She had things in her hand and walked around to the passenger side, put it in and that’s when he came from behind with the rope and put a rope around her neck,” said Steen.
Steen said the long-time employee was brutally raped, choked unconscious and left for dead.
Her boyfriend frantically called her phone when she didn’t return home.
“Called her cell phone at 8:30 that evening, which is what got her out of being unconscious,” said Steen.
The woman was able to get up and meet her boyfriend at a nearby gas station. The couple immediately called Phoenix police who are now investigating.
“I have never felt so much pain in my life,” said Steen, wishing she could have done more
The facility has now added razor wire to the back fence and is in the process of adding security cameras as well.
But Steen said while they are completely heartbroken, the community and their clients have shown up in numbers.
“Our male clients have come here at six o’clock every night to walk us out the back door,” said Steen.
She hopes that same enthusiasm will help catch the man who has left so many with wounds that may never heal.
The suspect is described as white man with a short scruffy beard with shoulder length brown hair, He was seen pulling his belongings in a kid cart attached to a scooter.
Phoenix police confirm a report was filed in the incident and The Family Investigations Bureau Adult Sex Crimes Unit is investigating. Police hope to have a sketch of the suspect within a few days.
If you have any information, please call Phoenix police.
