Woman who escaped would-be rapist in NYC subway station has been living in fear since attack: ‘Always looking behind me’

Allie Griffin
·3 min read

A young woman who narrowly escaped being raped by a man inside a Queens subway station said she is always looking over her shoulder since the terrifying assault left her battered and bruised.

“Now, I’m always looking behind me,” the 21-year-old victim named Jamileth said in a new interview with ABC 7 Eyewitness News. “I can’t walk calmly. I always think that someone is following. I don’t know what to do. I feel terrible.”

The victim of an attempted rape in Queens subway station spoke out to detail the Feb. 24 attack. WABC-TV
The victim of an attempted rape in Queens subway station spoke out to detail the Feb. 24 attack. WABC-TV

Her attacker remains at large more than a month after the Feb. 24 attack — which has left her living in constant fear.

Jamileth was taking an F train home at around midnight after finishing her night shift cleaning offices when she rested her eyes while sitting in the subway car.

When she opened them, she saw a man staring at her, she told the news station.

Then when she tried to get off at the 169th Street station in Jamaica, the creep blocked the doors while performing a lewd act, the station reported.

He eventually got off and Jamileth exited and waited on the train platform to be sure he had walked away, she said.

She headed up the stairs from the platform to the mezzanine level of the station but the man was at the top of the staircase.

An unknown male individual followed a 20-year-old female victim exiting a Queens-bound “F” train that had entered the 169th Street subway station.
An unknown male individual followed a 20-year-old female victim exiting a Queens-bound “F” train that had entered the 169th Street subway station.
Once inside the mezzanine of the subway station, the male punched the victim in the face multiple times while covering her face and knocking her to the ground.
Once inside the mezzanine of the subway station, the male punched the victim in the face multiple times while covering her face and knocking her to the ground.
The victim struggled and yelled while she was being assaulted, which alerted a security guard who intervened. WABC-TV
The victim struggled and yelled while she was being assaulted, which alerted a security guard who intervened. WABC-TV

“He was waiting for me,” she told Eyewitness News in Spanish.

He followed her down a long passageway until they reached an area of the station blocked from public view and then launched at her, Jamileth said.

He knocked her down, dragged her behind a wall, punched her in the face multiple times and tried to remove her clothes, the terrified victim told the station.

Jamileth struggled to fend off her attacker and screamed for help.

The unidentified male then fled the station on foot toward 168 Place.
The unidentified male then fled the station on foot toward 168 Place.

Despite the creep’s attempts to muffle her cries, a security guard inside the station heard Jamileth and raced over.

The guard came to the rescue and scared the would-be rapist away.

Jamileth, who migrated to the US from Ecuador just three months ago, was treated at the hospital for her injuries and has since switched to working a day shift.

The suspect in her attack is described as 5-foot-10 and was last seen wearing a white tank top, light blue hooded sweatshirt, black pants, and orange and white sneakers.

Anyone with information on the disturbing crime is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).