A man broke into a Fort Collins apartment and sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman early Friday, police said.
The woman was awakened at about 12:50 a.m. Friday in her apartment on the 2800 block of Silverplume Drive and saw a man in her room, said Rita Davis, Fort Collins police spokeswoman.
The attacker was a man in his early to mid-20s, police said. The victim did not recognize her assailant, Davis said.
Police believe the attacker entered the home through an unlocked door. The victim’s two roommates were asleep throughout the sexual assault, Davis said.
The young woman called police at 1:16 a.m. to report the sexual assault.
She was not physically injured during the assault, Davis said.
Davis said people should always lock doors and windows and shut curtains at night for their safety.
In recent years, several young women, mostly college students, have been raped in Fort Collins.
Some of the rapes had similarities to Friday’s assault.
Troy Graves is serving a life prison sentence for attacking 14 women in Fort Collins and Philadelphia beginning in 1997.
He attacked eight women near the CSU campus in 2001 and 2002.
He climbed into apartments while the students slept, blindfolded them and sexually assaulted them.
A University of Northern Colorado student, Lacy Miller, was kidnapped during a fake traffic stop in 2003 by Jason Clausen.
He raped and killed Miller and is serving a life prison sentence for first-degree murder.
A Colorado statute known as “Lacy’s law” was later passed, increasing the penalties for impersonating a police officer.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
