Detectives from both the Island County Sheriff’s Office and the Oak Harbor Police Department are investigating possible links between two recent break-in sexual assault cases in the Oak Harbor area.

Oak Harbor Detective Teri Gardner says there are no concrete connections between two recent attempted rapes, but the crimes are similar enough to make detectives suspicious that the same man may be involved in both cases.

Island County Sheriff’s Office reported that a 25-year-old woman was alone with her two small children at a Haga Road home around midnight Monday night when there was a knock at the door.

Expecting a female friend, the woman opened the door and was surprised to find a strange man standing there. The man pushed her back into her home, wrestled her to the ground, then bound her arms behind her back and gagged her.

Jan Smith, the chief administrative deputy, said the man held a knife to the victim’s throat, threatened her and partially undressed her. The victim, who was keeping her eyes closed from fright, said the man suddenly got off her and left without any further assault.

After realizing the intruder was gone, the woman tried to call for help while she was still bound and gagged. She managed to knock the phone off the hook and dialed 911, Smith said, when her 4-year-old daughter woke up and completed the call.

Nearly two weeks earlier, in the early morning of Oct. 10, a 28-year-old Oak Harbor woman reported that a man broke into her NE Ernst Street apartment while she was sleeping and attempted to sexually assault her.

As in the later case, the assailant just suddenly left for an unknown reason.

Gardner said the woman’s bedroom was dark at around 5:30 a.m., so the victim wasn’t able to see the intruder. He apparently got into the house through a locked window. Gardner said it is unknown how he managed to do this.

Gardner said she has no leads and no description of the suspect.

Smith said the suspect in the more recent case is described as a hispanic-looking man in his late 20s, about 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8 with “almost black,” ear-length hair and brown eyes. He is slender with broad shoulders, medium complexion, clean shaven and a possible mark of some sort on the left side of his neck. He also may have a lazy right eye with a droopy lid and an involuntary twitch.

Anyone with any information should call 911.

Gardner said she hasn’t found any connection between these two cases and a couple of unsolved break-in cases from more than a year ago. On Aug. 1, 2000, a man posing as a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service faked his way into an Oak Harbor woman’s home, handcuffed her and attempted to rape her.

The suspect was described as a white man between 5-foot-7 and 6 foot tall, about 25 to 27 years old, with light brown, medium-length hair.

Then on Sept. 19, 2000, a man broke into an Oak Harbor couple’s home in the early morning. The suspect wrestled and stabbed the male resident, then locked him in the closet and turned on the woman. The suspect eventually ran out of the house after the man broke out of the closet and overpowered him.

Since it was dark, the only description the victims could provide is that the suspect was a man about 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-2 and around 230 pounds.

While there isn’t any evidence of connections between any of these cases, Gardner said that residents — especially women who live alone —should be be extra vigilant and safe. Remember to lock doors and windows, she says, and report anything suspicious.

You can reach features editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.