CEDAR CITY — Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man suspected of attacking a female runner on a local trail Monday afternoon.
According to a news release issued Wednesday by Iron County Sheriff’s Office, an 18-year-old woman running on the Ghost Flats trail was on her way back to the Thunderbird Gardens Trailhead parking lot at about 3:30 p.m. when she was attacked by an unknown assailant wearing a medical face mask.
“On her way back to the parking lot a man hiding next to the trail jumped out and hit her in the head with a rock, knocking the woman to the ground,” Sgt. David Mitchell wrote in the news release.
Mitchell said the woman was able to get back to her feet and escape with only minor injuries. She was approximately one-fifth of a mile away from the parking lot when the attack occurred, Mitchell told Cedar City News. The Ghost Flats Trail is just over three miles long and extends eastward from the parking lot.
The suspect is described as a tall, skinny man in his early forties with shoulder-length brown hair. He was reportedly wearing tan cargo shorts and a blue and white medical grade mask, the news release stated.
Iron County Sheriff’s Office detectives are asking anyone who frequently uses this trail, lives nearby or has seen a person in that area matching the above description to contact the sheriff’s office at 435-867-7500.
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