Suspect sought in recent attack

LACLEDE — Law enforcement is seeking a man suspected of a March 31 attack of a woman who had stopped to help what she thought was a stranded motorist.

The woman was driving on Highway 2 when she noticed a car with its hood up near milepost 12.2 and pulled over to help. The man, about 45 to 55 years old, asked for a ride to the Laclede Store.

Once inside the car, he attacked the woman but she was able to fight him off and get away, according to a Bonner County Sheriff’s Office press release.

The male is described as 5-9 or 5-10, 160-170 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. In addition, he has some type of tattooing on the fingers of his left hand and had about a week’s worth of growth of graying facial hair.

At the time of the attack, he was wearing a  plaid, lined button-up coat.

The vehicle is described as a beige or tan-colored Jeep Cherokee-type vehicle from the mid 1980s to early 1990s with possible Idaho plates. The plate numbers are not known.

Anyone who has seen the vehicle or the suspect in the Laclede or Priest River areas on March 31, or knows someone matching the description or driving such a vehicle, is asked to call Bonner County Dispatch at 255-5525 regarding case 09-004890; or call sheriff’s Det. Phyllis Jay at 946-6693.