DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A countywide search is underway for the man who deputies said knocked down a 68-year-old woman and sexually assaulted her around 5:30 a.m. Friday, as she was walking back home toward Crabby Joe's Restaurant.
"She just remembers coming to on the beach, face down. Her panties were laying next to her and she was a mess," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
The sheriff said the woman stumbled to Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety, bleeding from the mouth and elbow but still unsure of what happened.
"After speaking to her and notifying beach patrol, the determination is that she probably just fell because she had told officers that she had fallen in the past. So, after she goes home and gets cleaned up, she talks to a family member and realizes something more must have happened," Chitwood said.
The woman went to a hospital as authorities spent the weekend canvassing at least a three mile stretch of beach, and looking for any surveillance video, as they now wait for DNA results to come back early next week.
"These things don't normally happen. This is clearly a predator (who) is in our midst and we're asking anybody that has any type of information whatsoever no matter how small you may think it is, to call us or to call Crime Stoppers," Chitwood said.