When police were told that a student was raped outside McPherson Lab last month, they scoured the area around the building, searching for signs of a struggle. Then they did it again. Both times, police walked away empty-handed, unable to locate the scene of the crime.

The case is particularly difficult to investigate because it was reported anonymously, meaning the victim never came forward to talk to police, said OSU Police Chief Paul Denton. Although he said that is common among people who say they were sexually assaulted, it means that investigators are left to work with second-hand information and details that are blurry at best.

Much of the information about the alleged sexual assault on March 1 was reported by two women listed on the police report as a residence hall director at a North Campus dorm and a student who lives at another Curl Drive hall. One of those women filed the report, Denton said, and both had apparently spoken to the student who said she was assaulted.

When the women filed a report at 3 a.m., they told police that the assault occurred at 8:45 p.m. near McPherson Lab, on West 18th Avenue. They said a man attacked the student from behind, sexually assaulted her, then ran away. There were no witnesses, and Denton said no cameras observe the area where police were told the assault occurred.

The student was treated at OSU Medical Center that night, but Denton wouldn’t say whether doctors performed a sexual assault examination. When an officer went to the hospital to talk to the student, she said she didn’t want to talk to police.

Denton also wouldn’t say whether police had subsequently interviewed the student, or if she would press charges if police arrest a suspect. He would not discuss what evidence investigators had gathered since the assault was reported.

However, the case is still open, he said, and investigators are asking anyone with information to contact police. He said that, based on the report, he has to assume there is still a rapist who has not been caught and who targeted a student on campus.

The alleged attacker is described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and the age of a college student.