In Dallas Area, 4 Attacks Linked by Victims' Sorority Membership
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DALLAS -- She called it her Delta plate: a silver license-plate frame reading "Delta Sigma Theta" in red letters across the bottom. Every car she owned since joining the black sorority in 1976 had one, but no more. A few nights ago, she watched her husband remove the plate with a screwdriver.
Other sorority members have done the same, removing anything bearing the group's name or logo from their cars and leaving the Delta clothing and jewelry they often wear at home.
For the first time since the sorority was founded 98 years ago, Delta Sigma Theta members in Dallas and its suburbs -- a proud, prominent group of college-educated black women known for volunteering and raising scholarship money -- have had to go into hiding.
One man appears to be targeting middle-aged sorority members in the area, breaking into their homes at night and sexually assaulting them. Four members of the sorority -- all in their mid-50s to mid-60s, and all alone at the time -- have been attacked since last November in the Dallas suburbs of Plano, Corinth and Coppell, the authorities said. Three of the women were raped, and one was the victim of an attempted rape.
Investigators have not established the suspect's motive or his connection, if any, to the sorority. During the attacks, he indicated that he knew personal information about each woman, but police officials would not discuss what he said. Investigators do not know how the suspect obtained information about the women; they said it was possible that he has a sorority directory or learned of their affiliation by noticing Delta Sigma Theta's logo on their jewelry, clothes or cars.
On the advice of police officials, the national president of the sorority, Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre, advised members in the Dallas area to remove Delta Sigma Theta stickers, signs and objects from their homes, offices and cars; to refrain from wearing clothing or accessories with the sorority logo; and to remove personal information and day-to-day whereabouts from Facebook and other social media.
First Published October 31, 2011 12:00 am
