Less than a week after University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson was found dead after getting into a car she reportedly mistook for an Uber, police in Seattle released details of another crime involving a car mistaken for an Uber. The Washington Post reports that in December, a Seattle woman in her 20s was raped by a man who convinced her that he was the driver of the Uber that had been called for her.
According to the Post, the woman left a bar after midnight one evening, and went from car to car on the street trying to find the Uber that her friend had ordered for her. She approached a man in a black vehicle (which the King County Sheriff’s Office has said may have been a Dodge Charger), and he led her to believe that he was her driver. She got into the back seat of the car, and he then pulled the car over ten miles away and raped her.
On Tuesday, police in Washington posted on Facebook images of a person of interest photographed near the home of the victim. By Wednesday, a 34-year-old man turned himself in. King County Sheriff’s Office sergeant Ryan Abbott told the Post that the man allegedly sought to clear his name but was instead held on investigation of rape. He has not yet been charged, and he is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. His name has not been publicly released, but Abbot said that Uber has confirmed he is not an employee.
The details of the horrifying December assault come days after police in South Carolina announced that 21-year-old Samantha Josephson was found dead after getting into a car she may have thought was an Uber she ordered. A man was arrested on murder and kidnapping charges, and an autopsy showed that she died from multiple sharp injuries.