Police are investigating whether a vehicle matching the description of one driven by a man who beat, stabbed and sexually assaulted a woman in a Chicago suburb over the weekend is connected to the brutal attack.
The vehicle was towed overnight Monday after it was spotted and reported to Brookfield police.
Brian Feirick told NBC Chicago he called police Sunday night after seeing a suspicious car parked in his father's handicapped parking space.
“I said it was a dirty car with an Indiana plate and I’ve never seen it before,” Feirick said. “If this guy would have parked car 10 feet that way the car would have sat at least another day or two, if not more.”
Officers arrived at his home within minutes. Willowbrook police said they are processing registration on the car.
"In processing the vehicle, they're looking for any evidence whether it be fingerprints, DNA or any items that they could send to a lab that could be further evidence," said Willowbrook Police Chief Mark Shelton.
The 26-year-old woman was beaten, stabbed and sexually assaulted by an intruder in a home in suburban Willowbrook Saturday afternoon.
The woman was pulling her car into the driveway of her parents' home in the 700 block of 73rd Court at about 1 p.m. when a dark blue older model Nissan Altima followed her into the driveway, police said.
A man then got out of the car and asked the woman for money. When she refused and went inside the house, the man then began knocking on the side door of the home and asking to make a phone call. When she refused again, he forced his way inside the house, police said.
Nobody else was home at the time of the incident.
Inside the home, the man stabbed the woman multiple times with an unknown sharp object, according to police. The victim's family told NBC Chicago she was beaten "like an animal," stabbed 16 to 18 times and sexually assaulted.
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When the offender left, the woman was able to run to a neighbor's home and call police.
The woman was hospitalized with broken bones in her face and multiple stab wounds in her throat, face, torso, abdomen and back, her father said.
"She was covered head to toe with blood," said one neighbor who was afraid to appear on camera, but helped the victim moments after the attack until police arrived. "My husband put a blanket around her and ran outside to see if he could find who had done this to her."
She remained hospitalized Monday with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
"This is something you never want to see," the woman's father said. "No human being should ever be treated like this."
Willowbrook police called the incident "highly unusual," saying the suburb is a "very safe town."
Police released a sketch of the intruder, who remains on the loose, on Sunday. The woman described the man to police, but she told them she did not know him. The Illinois State Crime Commission has offered a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the man responsible for the brutal attack.
"I believe he is very dangerous," said Willowbrook Deputy Police Chief Mark Altobella. "This woman went through quite a beating."
The suspect is described as an African-American man in his 30s, standing about 5-foot-10-inches and weighing 160 to 180 pounds. He was wearing a blue short-sleeve shirt and dark-colored khaki shorts and white socks.
The car driven by the offender has dark tinted windows, no front license plate and a visor on the roof in front of the sunroof.
It is NBC 5's policy to not name the victims of sexual violence, but the woman's family has asked us to bring attention to a GoFundMe page that has been set up in her name to help offset the medical expenses associated with the brutal attack.
Anyone with information about the incident are asked to contact the Willowbrook Police Department at (630) 325-2121 or (630) 325-2808.
