Police search for suspect in abduction

University and Chicago Police are asking for the public’s help in apprehending a man who abducted and attempted to rob a female graduate student in the Hyde Park area on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The student was walking alone at 11:15 p.m. near 54th Street and Harper Avenue when a man approached her and forced her at knifepoint into a minivan.

She escaped from the vehicle a short distance away, at 55th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, police said. She sustained minor injuries while jumping from the vehicle and was treated at the University Hospitals and released.

Police said witnesses described the offender as a 5’6”to 5’8”, 160 to 170-pound black male between 30 and 40 years old, with black curly hair and a medium complexion. He was wearing a black nylon baseball jacket, a red and blue sports jersey and blue jeans and was driving a green mid-to-late 1990s, model Mercury Villager with tinted windows. Police believe this may be the same man who parked a similar van near 55th Street and Kimbark Avenue at 9:45 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18, and asked a passing woman for the time. When she felt uncomfortable and subsequently fled, the man briefly pursued her. The woman was not hurt, and the police have circulated a flyer that describes the vehicle and the offender involved in the incident.

Please contact University police at (773) 702-8181 or call the Prairie District of the Chicago Police Department at (312) 747-8340 or 911.