Woman Sexually Assaulted in East Dallas Home Invasion

Dallas police said a man sexually assaulted a woman in her Junius Heights home early Sunday during a violent home invasion.

Police said the man kicked down the back door of a home on Reiger Avenue and surprised the woman, who was asleep in her bed.

“He came in and caught her totally off guard,” Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said.

Police said the man tied up the woman and sexually assaulted her. Investigators said the victim screamed for help and yelled out her cats' names, which may have saved her life.

“When she yelled out and called the cats by name, this frightened the suspect," Crowther said. "He thought at that point someone else was in the house, and then he fled the location."

The majority of rape cases in Dallas involve someone the victim knows, but the attacker in this case was a stranger, police said.

Investigators described the man as a black man in his late 20s who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs about 180 pounds. Police said he was clean shaven, wore a dark-colored jogging suit with upside-down white chevrons on the should and spoke with what the victim described as an unusual accent.