Portsmouth, Va. - Portsmouth police are searching for a man accused of being a violent predator.
He's charged with strangling and sexually assaulting a woman. Now he's on the run.
“She's very lucky to be alive and we consider him extremely dangerous,” says Portsmouth detective Misty Holley.
Police are looking for 19-year-old Treyquan Lorenzo Vaught who is charged with a vicious attack in the Port Norfolk neighborhood.
Last summer, police say a woman was walking near an alley on Broad Street when Vaught approached her on a bike and struck up a conversation.
“She didn't think anything about it. She's thinking, ‘Oh, he's just talking to me.’ And then all of a sudden he just snaps. He jumps off his bike and starts beating her, beating her for no reason. She didn't do anything to him,” says Holley.
And police say the violent attack didn't stop there.
“Then he started to strangle her. And right after he strangled her, that's when he sexually assaulted her. And then after sexually assaulting her, he just left her there with no one, beaten and bruised,” says Holley.
Police say Vaught was supposed to be on trial for malicious wounding and sexual assault charges yesterday, but he didn't show up to court.
Now, Vaught is charged with contempt of court and the victim is left in limbo.
“She's not able to get that closure. She's not able to see him stand before a judge and a jury and tell her story, everything she went through,” says Holley.
That's why police need your help to find him. Vaught has a tattoo on his upper right arm of a basketball.
Police say he could be armed and they need you to take action to help catch him before he strikes again.
“He's done it to one person. He's gonna do it again. It's inevitable. He's going to do it again until he's stopped,” says Holley.
Treyquan Vaught is known to frequent the London Oaks neighborhood.
His last known address is on Howard Street.
If you have any information about him, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
