DURHAM, N.H. - Summer is normally the sleepiest season in this small college town, where quaint homes and quiet ponds surround the campus of the University of New Hampshire. But fear and anxiety were building last week after news spread that the man known as ''Jack the Snipper'' had struck again.
In six incidents reported to police since late June, a male intruder entered the apartments of women and, in several cases, cut off or removed their clothing as they slept. None of the women were hurt. In the most recent episode, during the early morning of Aug. 6, the man removed clothing from two women sleeping in an off-campus apartment.
''It's creepy,'' said Lindsay Sliter, a UNH junior living off-campus this summer while taking classes. ''I'm looking in my closets every time I walk by.''
Dorms have been empty for the summer break, and the break-ins have occurred off campus, in residential neighborhoods around downtown Durham. Police have yet to release details of where the crimes occurred, but students at an apartment complex on Dennison Road, near a middle school and several UNH fraternities, said at least one of the incidents happened there. Police were knocking on doors in the area late last week asking people if they might have seen something suspicious, residents said.
Police have not said what kind of tool the man uses to cut off clothing. According to the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, police said the apartments he entered were unlocked.
Police and university officials urged residents to lock doors and report any strange behavior, as they combed through sex-offender registries in three states and consulted with FBI profilers and criminologists for leads, according to media reports. Last week they announced the formation of a special task force, with other state agencies, to focus on the unusual rash of incidents.
With this fall's crop of freshmen due to arrive on campus later this month and classes to begin Sept. 2, university spokeswoman Kim Billings said UNH officials are preparing to ''communicate often'' with students about safety if no arrest is made, and will continue a building lockdown initiated in response to a national terrorism alert in the spring. About half the school's 10,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students live off campus.
''We are very concerned about the safety of our students and other women who may fall victim to this individual,'' University president Ann Weaver Hart said last week. ''We will do everything possible to help in the resolution of this case.''
The doors to the sprawling, tan clapboard student apartments on Dennison Road were unlocked yesterday, and students who live there said it has been difficult to change behavior to maximize safety. Some residents said the party atmosphere has posed a challenge to security.
''We try to lock the doors, but it's hard to break habits,'' said Katie Wilcox, a UNH junior. ''We're all friends, and we're in and out of each other's apartments. People party, and they forget to lock the doors.''
Wilcox said she stayed at a friend's house last week, worried that such lapses would put her at risk. Elsewhere, women reported other changes in their routine: locking doors, not walking alone at night, going home to stay with parents on weekends, even doubling up to sleep in the same room with roommates.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/222/metro/The_snipper_leaves_college_town_on_edge+.shtml
In six incidents reported to police since late June, a male intruder entered the apartments of women and, in several cases, cut off or removed their clothing as they slept. None of the women were hurt. In the most recent episode, during the early morning of Aug. 6, the man removed clothing from two women sleeping in an off-campus apartment.
''It's creepy,'' said Lindsay Sliter, a UNH junior living off-campus this summer while taking classes. ''I'm looking in my closets every time I walk by.''
Dorms have been empty for the summer break, and the break-ins have occurred off campus, in residential neighborhoods around downtown Durham. Police have yet to release details of where the crimes occurred, but students at an apartment complex on Dennison Road, near a middle school and several UNH fraternities, said at least one of the incidents happened there. Police were knocking on doors in the area late last week asking people if they might have seen something suspicious, residents said.
Police have not said what kind of tool the man uses to cut off clothing. According to the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, police said the apartments he entered were unlocked.
Police and university officials urged residents to lock doors and report any strange behavior, as they combed through sex-offender registries in three states and consulted with FBI profilers and criminologists for leads, according to media reports. Last week they announced the formation of a special task force, with other state agencies, to focus on the unusual rash of incidents.
With this fall's crop of freshmen due to arrive on campus later this month and classes to begin Sept. 2, university spokeswoman Kim Billings said UNH officials are preparing to ''communicate often'' with students about safety if no arrest is made, and will continue a building lockdown initiated in response to a national terrorism alert in the spring. About half the school's 10,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students live off campus.
''We are very concerned about the safety of our students and other women who may fall victim to this individual,'' University president Ann Weaver Hart said last week. ''We will do everything possible to help in the resolution of this case.''
The doors to the sprawling, tan clapboard student apartments on Dennison Road were unlocked yesterday, and students who live there said it has been difficult to change behavior to maximize safety. Some residents said the party atmosphere has posed a challenge to security.
''We try to lock the doors, but it's hard to break habits,'' said Katie Wilcox, a UNH junior. ''We're all friends, and we're in and out of each other's apartments. People party, and they forget to lock the doors.''
Wilcox said she stayed at a friend's house last week, worried that such lapses would put her at risk. Elsewhere, women reported other changes in their routine: locking doors, not walking alone at night, going home to stay with parents on weekends, even doubling up to sleep in the same room with roommates.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/222/metro/The_snipper_leaves_college_town_on_edge+.shtml