She said that her attacker was a Hispanic man in his mid-30s, about 5 feet 11, and with a mustache and goatee.
In the past month, two murders in Kensington have been linked by DNA to the same man, a Kensington strangler who took the women to abandoned properties, had sexual encounters with them and then strangled them. Two other women have come forward since those murders to tell police that they, too, were sexually assaulted and choked into unconsciousness by a man at vacant lots in Kensington in October, including one woman who claimed that she was assaulted at the same location where one of the murder victims was found.
One of those women provided police with a composite sketch, which the other said looked similar to the man who attacked her, according to police. He has been described as a black or Hispanic man in his late 20s or early 30s between 5 feet 8 and 6 feet tall, with a goatee.
Police will not say if the victims were prostitutes, but the two surviving victims, along with Sunday's victim, walked willingly with their attacker - a stranger - before he assaulted them. Both of the deceased had struggled with drug addiction, their families said.
Police are also looking to see if the case of a woman who was choked to near unconsciousness and raped in a vacant lot on Flora Street near Carlisle, in North Philadelphia, on Nov. 14 is connected to any of the others.
Darby said that the scope of the investigation was wide and that homicide detectives and investigators with the Special Victims Unit are apprised of any case involving strangulation or choking. Still, he cautioned against linking all of the cases to one man without definitive evidence.
"Based on history, the attacks may appear to be similar, but there may be multiple offenders involved," he said. "But we will look at any report that may appear to be similar."
