Detectives seek details in attack on DePaul graduate in Lincoln Park

Investigators are asking for the public’s help in the search for the person who slashed a woman’s face and throat Thursday in what investigators are calling a “sexually motivated” attack in Lincoln Park.

The 22-year-old woman was walking home when the male suspect attacked her about 3:15 a.m. in the 2300 block of North Halsted Street, according to Chicago police.

Officers were called about a woman bleeding the street and found her about 3:45 a.m. with lacerations to her face and neck from the apparent knife attack, police said. She was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.

Police issued a community alert about the attack Friday, asking potential witnesses or anyone with information to call Area Central detectives at 312-747-8380. The suspect was described only as a “male subject” and it was not clear which way he ran after the incident.

Investigators are treating the attack as sexually motivated. Police said the woman fended off her attacker and was not sexually assaulted.

“That may have been the intention,” said Tom Ahern, a Chicago police spokesman, adding that the attack appears to have been random.

Detectives have few details from the woman because the attack has left her unable to speak, police said.

Ahern said detectives are reviewing video from surveillance cameras, some of which shows a car traveling the wrong way down Belden Avenue, turning onto Halsted, passing the victim and then making a U-turn.

The attack occurred near the DePaul University campus across the street from the music buildings, according to a campus safety alert on the university’s website.

The woman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, said Carol Hughes, a DePaul spokeswoman.

No one is in custody as Area Central detectives investigate.

Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times

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