It's the second recent attack in the same neighborhood.
/*Hudson County*/ investigators are looking into a possible link between this latest attack and a similar crime in late March.
Women Eyewitness News talked to Tuesday are taking steps to protect themselves from the serial rapist.
"I'm really petrified," said Kimberly Conyers, a /*Jersey City*/ resident.
Kimberly Conyers opens her daycare center at 6 a.m. most days, but she won't be unlocking the door alone anymore.
"I'm going to have my brother walk me because it's very scary," Conyers said.
Business owners and residents all along Bergen Avenue near Fairmount in Jersey City are nervous Tuesday, after a young woman was brutally attacked early Sunday morning at around 1:30 a.m.
She was walking home when a man grabbed her from behind and demanded money, then he dragged her to a quiet spot, and raped her.
He ran off when a neighbor came by.
"Some friend told me to buy the pepper spray but now I think I need to do it," said Maria Belliard, a Jersey City resident.
Investigators say the suspect is a black man, 25-35 years old, standing 5'7" who is in good physical shape.
He was last seen wearing a dark colored t-shirt, a red cap, maroon sweatpants and sneakers.
The description of both the suspect and the attack sound eerily similar to another rape in Jersey City back in March.
In that case, the suspect was on a bike on Harrison Avenue near Bergen Avenue at around 1 a.m. when he put his victim in a chokehold, dragged her into an alley, and raped her.
Monique Smith Andrews owns a salon nearby.
"I instantly thought of my clients because when they leave late at night they will need someone to walk them to their cars because you never know," Smith Andrews said.
There were surveillance cameras in the area of the most recent attack, and police are hoping to release an image soon to ask for the public's help in finding this attacker.
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