KIDNAP SUSPECT ARRESTED U.S. VETERAN OF IRAQ WAR SNATCHED, THEN RAPED.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

NEWHALL - An Iraq war veteran who pulled off the Golden State Freeway in Newhall early Monday was raped by a man who forced his way into her car and drove her to remote Placerita Canyon, where sheriff's deputies arrested a suspect hours later during a massive manhunt, officials said.

The 21-year-old victim, who recently returned from military service in Iraq, was the second woman attacked in the general area in recent days by a man of similar description.

Sheriff's deputies would not say whether there was evidence linking the two cases.

The suspect, whom authorities refused to identify immediately, was arrested about 1:30 p.m. near the Placerita Canyon Nature Center after a resident spotted a man sitting in a tree and smoking a cigarette, then led deputies to him, said Sgt. Carrie Stuart of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station.

The victim was treated at a local hospital. A canyon resident who had helped the woman immediately after the attack quoted the victim as saying she was in the service and had recently returned from duty in the Middle East.

``She said she felt safer in Iraq with a gun,'' said the canyon resident, who declined to be identified. ``Here she just served her country, she stopped to look at a map, and this happens to her.''

The canyon resident said she was walking out to her car at 6:10 a.m. and noticed a black Volkswagen parked partially on her Placerita Canyon Road property. She checked the car, then headed back to her own but was approached by the victim who asked for help.

``I just started crying,'' said the woman who helped. ``She was panic-stricken and crying. I grabbed her and hugged her, and she kept saying, 'I don't know where he is.' I got her some ice for her jaw. It was swelling up.''

The canyon resident, wife of a county firefighter, took the victim into her home, where the firefighter called paramedics.

According to the firefighter's wife, the victim said she left work in Burbank at 4:45 a.m., headed for her sister's home, which is off the Antelope Valley Freeway. When she missed the turnoff and realized she was lost, she pulled off the Golden State Freeway and parked at Burger King on Lyons Avenue.

``She said she saw the guy out of the corner of her eye, then said he tried to open the door. She tried to start the car, but before she could, he broke the window and jumped in. He took her up Placerita Canyon to Sand Canyon, where he raped her.''

After the assault, the attacker forced the victim into the trunk of her car and he drove up rural Ravenhill Road.

``He told her to get out and don't move,'' said the firefighter's wife. ``She said he smoked some marijuana before he drove away. Then he went around the corner onto Placerita Canyon.''

The arrest was the culmination of a daylong search of the area by more than 50 deputies - some in squad cars, some on motorcycles and many on foot. They were helped by a mounted posse, police dogs and a flight crew. Residents also were asked to check outbuildings on their property in the equestrian community.

Placerita Canyon Road was closed to through traffic at about 8 a.m. while deputies searched an area that initially stretched from Ravenhill Road on the east end of a Disney location-filming ranch. The search narrowed shortly before noon to the area around the nature park.

Sheriff's officials said no weapon was used during the abduction or assault.

``There was no weapon used that we know of,'' said Sgt. Carrie Stuart of the Santa Clarita station. ``He used force and fear. She felt compelled to comply because of fear. That's a horrible experience to go through, but she's done a great job helping us with information.''

Sheriff's Sgt. Byron Wainie said investigators are looking into the possibility the suspect was involved in a June 10 attack on a 49-year-old Valencia woman who was assaulted before dawn as she walked near her home on a trail not far from the Burger King. The assailant in that incident was described as a Latino in his early 20s with short black hair and a goatee, medium height and stocky.

``We just caught someone who may have raped someone,'' he said. ``If their description is close to a suspect from another incident, it will be looked at closely and thoroughly investigated.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) With guns drawn, sheriff's deputies approach an oak tree in which they said a suspect in the kidnapping and rape of a Burbank woman was hiding Monday near Placerita Canyon Nature Center.

(2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Sheriff's deputies handcuff a man suspected of kidnapping and raping an Iraq war veteran from Burbank.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) More than 50 sheriff's deputies, including some in squad cars, search an area near Placerita Canyon Nature Center on Monday for a kidnap-rape suspect. A man broke into the car of an Iraq war veteran who had stopped to look at a map and then drove her to a remote canyon area, authorities said.

(4 -- 5 -- ran in SAC edition only) From a kidnap-rape victim's car in Placerita Canyon, dog handler Ted Hamm bags material, at left, whose scent he hopes will help a police dog track the suspect Monday. Above, a bloodhound, Cody, sniffs an area near the spot where a suspect was arrested.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

Map:

(ran in SAC edition only) MAN HUNT

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