Police have arrested a man accused of raping an elderly woman in Queens over the weekend.
Investigators have identified Ryan Bayard as the man who allegedly slipped into the side door of a Rosedale home around 6 a.m. Sunday and proceeded to sexually assault a 78-year-old woman residing there. The victim was asleep at the time, police said, and is currently in the hospital recovering.
The house is located on 148th Avenue, and was thought to be vacant with front doors and windows reportedly boarded up and locked.
According to an interview with CBS, neighbor Heather Palmer was in shock after the horrific crime.
“Really, that house was supposed to be empty. That’s what we know. Everyone moved out. It was locked up. So there shouldn’t be anyone living in that house,” Palmer said.
Another interview, a neighbor told ABC that the home was inhabitable claiming, “There’s no heat, no water, no lights, no nothing.”
Police described Bayard as a 30-year-old who is 5-foot-10 and weight about 180 pounds.
