Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies searched for about 3� hours last night in and around the Grindstone Nature Area for a man matching the description of a person wanted in connection to a string of burglaries and sexual assaults.

The search started after Columbia Police Department officers were dispatched at 7:49 p.m. to the 3100 block of Rock Quarry Road for a report of a suspicious person, Columbia police Officer Latisha Stroer said. The man's description matched the description of a person wanted in relation to six incidents that have happened in southeast Columbia since May 1, she said.

Police officers requested a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter, and they were using dogs to track the man's trail north into the Grindstone Nature Area and Capen Park.

Just after 10 p.m., the University of Missouri issued a statement saying MU Police Department officers were assisting in the search. The message described the target of the search as a white or possibly Middle Eastern man in his 30s, 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall with an athletic build. He was last seen wearing a tan cap turned backward, a dark T-shirt and khaki shorts, the statement said.

The statement said the man was last seen in the Hinkson Creek area south of the MU campus. The search was called off just after 11:30 p.m.

Earlier yesterday afternoon, Stroer issued a news release that said investigators believe six recent incidents, four of which happened at The Domain student housing complex at 3100 E. Stadium Blvd., might be related to a string of burglaries and assaults that happened downtown and in the East Campus neighborhood last year.

In each incident, the man has either entered through an unlocked door or tried to enter but given up when finding the door locked. Several times a victim woke up to the man in her room or her bed and then he fled.

In October, a woman was sexually assaulted at Brookside Downtown, 1118 Locust St., in one of the earlier incidents police believe are connected. The man entered her apartment and threatened her with a sharp object and raped her before fleeing.

At 6:26 a.m. yesterday, a man sexually assaulted a woman at The Domain. He entered her apartment through an unlocked door, and she woke up to find him in her room with a knife. He fled after assaulting her, Stroer said.

Three other incidents happened early in the morning May 1 at The Domain. The first reported was at 6:15 a.m. when a woman saw her doorknob rotating slowly. The door was locked, and the man did not get inside. At about the same time, a woman awoke to find a man in her bedroom, Stroer said, but he calmly left when she noticed him. Around 7 a.m. May 1, a woman woke up to the man in her room with a knife. He entered her apartment through an unlocked door. He forced her to take off her clothes and proceeded to masturbate, Stroer said, but he did not assault or attempt to sexually assault her.

Sunday, a man came up behind a woman walking at 7:12 a.m. in the 4100 block of Lenoir Street, held a knife to her throat and tried to sexually assault her, but she fought back and he fled on foot, Stroer said. A man tried to enter a woman's locked bedroom between midnight and 3:30 a.m. Thursday in the 2200 block of Grindstone Parkway, but he was unsuccessful.

Including the sexual assault, there were nine reported burglaries or assaults last summer and fall that police publicized and said were related. In several of those incidents, Stroer said, the victims woke up to find the man nude or partially nude in their bed and he fled after they screamed. He also punched one woman in the chest in one incident in East Campus. In nearly every report during last summer or fall, the man entered through an unlocked door, police said.

This article was published in the Saturday, May 10, 2014 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "Suspicious man spurs manhunt:�Assault suspect�s�description cited."