New York City Woman Raped by Fake Fireman on Halloween

A man dressed as a fireman set several small fires in an apartment building hallway on Halloween evening, outside the door of a 34-year old single woman. He pounded on the woman’s door, and when she opened up he said, "FDNY! We have a report of smoke and I am here to make sure there is no fire in your apartment!" According to the story reported by the New York Daily News, the woman told detectives that she saw and smelled smoke when she opened the door, so she believed the man dressed in fireman’s gear did indeed intend to check her home for signs of a fire.

After the woman let him into her apartment, the fake fireman pulled a handgun. Covering her face with a chemical-soaked rag, the man then bound her hands and feet with duct tape. Over the course of the next 12 hours, the man repeatedly assaulted her sexually while videotaping himself. He forced the woman to try on clothing and shoes so he could photograph her in them, but he was careful to use latex gloves, throwing them into a trash bag he had brought with him. The woman regained consciousness several times during the attacks, but the man quickly drugged her again.

While the ordeal was taking place, real New York City firefighters responded to several emergency calls from other residents of the apartment building who had smelled the smoke and discovered the fires, which were extinguished quickly. Some residents even tried to evacuate the building. One of those residents told reporters that he knocked on the victim’s door to alert her to what was going on, but there was no answer. The building superintendent said that also during the attack, several of the victim’s came to her apartment to pick her up so they could all go together to a party, but when there was no response to their knock, they left the building.

Police said that the attacker left around dawn Tuesday morning. When the woman came to, she was able to free herself from her bindings and dial 911 for help. Officers were able to find the gas mask the fake fireman wore over his face, but very few other clues. The Daily News reported that the victim is worried about the attacker having stalked her because he knew some personal details about her life.