Metro police are seeking to identify a suspect in the Thursday night stranger rape of a 22-year-old woman in a parking garage off Music Row.

A woman returned home to Note 16 apartments in the 1500 block of Horton Avenue just after 11 p.m. Thursday, Nashville police reported.

A man who had been sitting on the curb just outside the parking garage gate followed her vehicle into the structure and confronted the woman as she walked to the elevators, police said.

He then put his hand over the victim's mouth, forced her into an elevator and repeatedly sexually assaulted her, according to police. He stole her cash and car keys and fled the scene in the victim's vehicle.

Surveillance footage reviewed by police showed the man "hanging around" the parking garage for an hour before the woman's arrival, "likely waiting for a vulnerable target," an MNPD release stated.

Her vehicle was recovered in the Nashville Public Library Edgehill Branch parking lot in the 1400 block of 12th Avenue South later in the evening. The library is less than half a mile from the apartment building.

A police dog was unsuccessful in tracing the suspect from that location, police reported.

After the assault, the victim sought help at the apartment of a neighbor inside the complex, where she stayed until officers arrived.

The suspect is described as a man in his 20s or 30s, 6 feet tall and weighing approximately 250 pounds. Police say he may go by the name "Cory."

Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.