September 18, 2003

"48 HOURS INVESTIGATES: 'CRY RAPE'" REPORTS ON TWO CASES

WITH SURPRISING OUTCOMES ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 20

Two rape cases, each with very surprising outcomes, are the subject of the Saturday, Sept. 20 broadcast of 48 HOURS INVESTIGATES: "Cry Rape" (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. "Karen," whose full name 48 HOURS INVESTIGATES agreed not to reveal, says she was attacked three times by the same man, but the Oregon City and Tualitin, Ore., police departments and a retired FBI profiler can't seem to find her attacker. Laura Neuman says she was raped 20 years ago in her apartment in Baltimore, but the police and most of her family didn't completely believe her and the case was closed.

Correspondent Erin Moriarty speaks with "Karen," a woman who has been living in fear for more than a year-and-a-half because a stranger, who she says attacked her not once but three times, is still on the loose. In February 2002, the first time she was attacked, Karen was home alone and she claims the stranger knocked her down and struck her repeatedly. The second attack occurred seven months later when Karen was walking her dog in broad daylight in a nearby park, where she says the same man raped and slashed her. In the third attack, she says was stabbed in the arm, chest and leg. The attacks have left authorities in two Oregon cities baffled, along with retired FBI profiler Greg McCrary, who 48 HOURS INVESTIGATES asked to look at the case. Upon visiting each of the crime scenes, McCrary claims there are pieces of the puzzle that don't fit and his conclusion about the case is surprising. ?
Correspondent Susan Spencer reports on 38-year-old Laura Neuman of Annapolis, Md., who says she's been living in fear for the past two decades because the man who raped her in Baltimore is still out there. At the age of 18, Neuman had just moved out of her parents' home in Baltimore. But on the night of Oct. 14, 1983, a man crawled through her roommate's open window and raped her. When authorities came to investigate, Neuman says they seemed to doubt her story, thinking that she knew her attacker and claimed she was raped after the fact. The case was suspended. However, 19 years after the attack, Neuman saw a news item that would literally change her life: a new cold case unit was about to re-analyze more than 4000 rape cases sitting on the shelf of the Baltimore city police department. Neuman contacted the police department and convinced someone to re-open her case. The Baltimore cold case department, working only with fingerprints found at the scene 19 years ago, was able to find a fingerprint match in their system in one hour. Neuman's rapist was found and confessed. ?

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48 HOURS INVESTIGATES: "Cry Rape" is produced by Clare Friedland, Ian Paisley and Deborah Grau. The executive editor is Al Briganti and the executive producer is Susan Zirinsky.

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Press Contact: Marcy Erhard 212/975-2888 erhardm@cbsnews.com