'He wanted to take me': Jogger says she was attacked at Bill Schupp Park

McALLEN — The woman thought her 12-year-old son was playing a joke when she felt someone slap her backside as she jogged through Bill Schupp Park the night of July 19.

When she turned around, she realized it was a complete
stranger.

"He looked clean, like another jogger," the woman said.

The man pinned her down on the track.

"I yelled, ‘There are people here,’" the woman said. The man let her go and ran toward a white, recent-model Ford F-250 pickup truck.

The woman ran toward her car and took a picture of the truck with her cell phone.

She called 9-1-1, but police did not arrive in time to catch the man.

"He knew his way around and he was very calm, like it was not the first time," the woman said. "He wanted to take me."

It appears to be an isolated attack, but police want residents to be aware of their surroundings to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

"This can be inferred into a sexual assault," said McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez. "That is why it is so critical to us."

"Even though we don’t have any recent reports, we are very concerned about it so that we don’t have any more reports like that. We are working with the victim in this case to investigate this particular incident."

Alma Lawrence of Mission runs in the park at least three times a week.

"It’s unfortunate that we cannot run at night now and feel safe about it," she said. "I actually have never had any type of incident like that ever happen to me."

"I didn’t even think that something like that would happen in the (Rio Grande) Valley, especially."

Of three heavily used running trails in McAllen — at Bill Schupp, along Second Street and along Bicentennial Boulevard — the Bill Schupp trail is the only one not covered by the city’s network of surveillance cameras.

Women have reported flashers on the Second Street running trail between Pecan Boulevard and Hackberry Avenue where the trail goes between a fence and the canal. Runners on that stretch are not visible from Second Street.

Officials recommend against running alone. Runners are encouraged to hit the trails with a buddy, be careful and try to confine runs to daylight hours. Carrying a cell phone or wearing running shorts with a pocket to hold it is also advised. Finally, let somebody know where you are going and when you will be back.

"That way they will know where to look first (if a runner goes missing)," Lawrence said.

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Martha L. Hernández covers Mission, western Hidalgo County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.

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POLICE DESCRIPTION OF THE ATTACKER

>> Hispanic male

>> Height: 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-8

>> Weight: 170-180 pounds

>> Age: Early 30s

>> Attire: At the time of the attack, on July 19, the man was wearing a gray T-shirt, dark shorts and running shoes.

Anyone with information about the incident or the attacker is urged to call McAllen Crime Stoppers at (956) 687 8477.