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PROVO -- Police have arrested a man for investigation of attempted rape after he allegedly attacked a woman at her Provo apartment complex -- the same complex where a woman was raped and left for dead in June.
The incident occurred at the Branbury Apartments near 425 West and 1720 North in Provo around 3 a.m. Saturday. An 18-year-old woman was returning home after a night out with friends, Provo Police Capt. Cliff Argyle said. The woman was at her door, which was located below ground level, when she heard a noise and turned to see a naked man wearing only a hat.
"The male suspect ran toward her and knocked her to the ground," Argyle said. "The male suspect then started to pull at the victim's shirt and pants."
The woman told police she thought the man was trying to remove her clothes. She struggled with the man, and her screaming alerted two of her roommates who were inside the apartment.
When the women opened the door, the man ran away. All three women were able to give police a description of the man, which matched the description of a transient they had recently contacted in the area.
While the woman was traumatized, she was not physically injured in the attack.
Officers later located the man, who admitted he was in the area around the time of the incident. The man apparently matched the description given and was identified in a photo lineup by the victim.
"The suspect had a distinctive hat in his belongings," Argyle said. "The victim identified this hat as being the hat the suspect was wearing."
Geoffrey Mapother, 19, was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of attempted rape.
Police had arrested Mapother at the Branbury Apartments in January for investigation of burglary of a dwelling. They allege the man entered an apartment through a screen door, but was frightened away by the tenants.
Police say Mapother he is homeless and from another state.
The Branbury Apartment complex was the location of a brutal rape and attempted murder in June 2010. A woman living at the complex was pulled from the Provo River Trail that runs alongside the apartments and was strangled, raped and beaten with a cinder block.
Shawn Leonard, 34, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, all first-degree felonies, in connection with the incident.
This attack led many women in the complex to be more careful and to never go out at night alone.
"I won't take the trash out after 10 p.m., I won't go out at night at all, to bonfires or anything," said a resident named Kansas. "You never know who is out there and what's going to happen."
She and other women who live at the Branbury Apartments told KSL they had no idea this latest crime even happened.
"They didn't notify us at all of anything happening," said Kansas. "It's scary, since there are girls who walk around here by themselves."
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Story written by Emiley Morgan with contributions from Sam Penrod.
