Cumberland Co. sheriff seek public's help identifying suspect accused of raping women on dead end road

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office needs help identifying a suspect accused of sexual assault.

On Thursday, detectives released a surveillance photo of a motorcyclist riding a black Harley Davidson. That person is believed to be responsible for beating and sexually assaulting two women on October 21.

In surveillance video released to ABC11 the suspect can be seen riding alone towards the Massey Hill area and then minutes later leaving with one of the victims on the back of the motorcycle.

Detectives said in both cases the suspect would ask the women if they needed a ride, but instead of taking them where they needed to go, he took them to a dead end road off US-301 where he attacked them.

One woman was able to run away once she was assaulted but the other faked as if she were dead to get the suspect to stop, according to authorities.

The details of this story get increasingly disturbing as authorities say it all happening in broad daylight.

"Well, you don't think much about it during the daylight hours when someone rides up on a motorcycle and someone offers you a ride. It's not as concerning as if it were at night and you have someone approach you. You would be a little more on guard. This is actually prime time for the suspect, " said Lt. Sean Swain with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

Swain said both women were known to walk the Massey Hill area. Additionally, the sheriff's office has issued a crime alert for that neighborhood, urged residents to not accept rides from strangers and to keep an eye out for the suspect.

Authorities said only two incidents have been reported but they believe the suspect is also responsible for additional crimes