WATCH ABOVE: An Edmonton student is speaking out after she was beaten and robbed while taking out the garbage in December. Michel Boyer has her story.
WARNING: The picture in this story may be graphic to some.
EDMONTON — An Edmonton woman is speaking out after she was attacked while taking out the garbage in early December.
Crystal, who asked that her last name not be published, was taking out the garbage at her downtown Edmonton apartment around 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, when she was attacked.
“I walked to the trash dumpster, I opened the lid and I see a young male crouched inside,” she explained Thursday night. “I was walking back and the guy that was in the dumpster, he lifts the lid and I turn around and I saw that he was coming out of the dumpster.”
Crystal was on her cell phone at the time and says she told the person on the other end of the call that she was about to be attacked.
“I froze. And the next thing I knew I was on the ground and he was on top of me punching me in the face.”
The attack happened in the area of 109 Street and 100 Avenue. The suspect got away with Crystal’s cellphone. Her injuries were mostly to her face, but Crystal says she was shaken by the attack. She hasn’t been able to walk in the alley alone since it happened.
“I won’t take my trash out alone. I have someone take it out for me.”
Following the attack, Crystal had a composite sketch of the suspect created and provided it to police. The EPS released the sketch on Thursday.
The suspect is described as an aboriginal youth, possibly between the ages of 15 and 17, about 5’6″ tall and 150 pounds. Police say he has medium length, dark hair with a thin moustache. He was wearing a plaid jacket at the time of the alleged incident, police said.
EPS spokesperson Anna Batchelor says this isn’t the first time police have received a supplied composite sketch, but it is somewhat of a unique situation.
“It’s very difficult to generalize if these supplied composite sketches can be used in all investigations,” she said.
“There are officers that work as sketch artists and at times composite sketches will be done in investigations,” Batchelor explained. “Often, composite sketches are not done until all other investigative avenues have been pursued by officers.”
Crystal says she wanted the sketch released in hopes of saving someone else from falling victim.
“If I don’t spread the word, if I don’t try and get him caught, he’s just going to think that he can get away with this,” she explained. “I really would like for him to be found. I don’t want him to do this to someone else.”
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
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