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patio window off of my balcony, ’cause that was the only thing that was open. I, unfortunately, left that open, cracked open ... ’cause the front door was still bolted, bolted and chained, when I let the police officers in.”
    Considering what she had been through, Melissa’s memory was remarkable. She was spot-on with just about every detail she offered police so far.
    The other important item that came up as they talked through her terrifying ordeal was how Melissa’s attacker might have snuck into the apartment before Melissa got home—that’s why she didn’t hear him come into her bedroom. Perhaps he was already inside, waiting for her to fall asleep. With respect to that theory, Godan asked if Melissa heard anything inside her apartment that night when she returned home. Were there any abnormal noises? Did she have a feeling that someone had either been in her apartment or something was different?
    Melissa thought about it, but she couldn’t recall anything for the cop. She couldn’t even remember the moment he climbed on the bed or jumped on her.
    “So maybe he was standing next to me when he started hitting me?” Melissa said.
    They talked about race.
    “No,” Melissa said. “I really honestly do not [know]” if he was black or white. But then a thought came to her: “. . . I think he was trying to make his voice sound more black, but I really don’t know.”
    She was certain he was on the “younger” side.
    He never got undressed, nor did he take his pants down, Melissa said. She had scared him away before he could rape her.
    “You don’t have any idea who this guy would be?”
    “No, I really don’t.”

CHAPTER 13
    BLOOD SPORT
    As Melissa recovered from the first of what was to be several additional operations, the investigation moved over to her apartment. There was plenty of evidence to sift through. And with that evidence came a few answers that told investigators a little bit more about the guy they were looking for.
    One of the first clues that emerged became a good possibility that Melissa’s attacker scaled a utility pole conduit running up alongside her balcony. The electrical boxes were bulky enough, sticking out of the outside apartment complex sidewall far enough, and also low enough to the ground, where Melissa’s attacker could have jumped up on one of them, grabbed hold of the conduit, and easily pulled himself up and onto Melissa’s balcony. In fact, along the pole was a bloody smudge, which gave the indication that he had possibly exited this same way.
    A blood smear on the utility pole conduit outside Melissa’s balcony indicates her attacker might have used the same pole to enter her apartment—he certainly used it to exit. The three following images display the position of the utility pole in relation to Melissa’s apartment balcony. ( Photos courtesy of Marion County Prosecutor’s Office )

    Inside Melissa’s apartment investigators found a kitchen drawer open—and realized her attacker had likely used a knife he took from Melissa’s apartment to stab her. He hadn’t brought his own weapon with him.
    Upon further checking the apartment, investigators uncovered a serrated steak knife on the floor near streaks of smeared blood.
    The assault weapon!
    Investigators uncovered fingerprints and blood smears, spatter and blood droplets, all over Melissa’s apartment. The amount of blood and how ransacked the apartment appeared displayed the horror of the attack. Whoever this perp was, he had come into the apartment on a mission to cause as much harm to Melissa as possible—maybe even murder her. There was no doubt he had planned to hurt her as bad as he could. And if that was the case, the Marion County Sheriff ’s Department knew it had a crazed, bloodthirsty maniac on the loose—an assailant willing to do whatever was necessary to get inside an apartment and attack females.
    The knife Melissa’s attacker took from her kitchen drawer and used to stab her