Austin crime: Naked man attacks woman near Moody Center, victim says

AUSTIN, Texas - A woman is warning others about a man who attacked her while she was walking to her car in the Cherrywood neighborhood of East Austin. 

She said it happened in the middle of the night and the man was naked.

Woman describes her attack in East Austin

Local perspective:

"He came out of nowhere, and he disappeared just as quickly," Candace Armbruster said.

Candace Armbruster went to a concert at the Moody Center earlier this month. She said the concert had let out, and she started walking to her car. It was a bit of a walk, across I-35 in the Cherrywood neighborhood.

"Wherever the crowd would go, I would maneuver myself to stay with them, even if that meant elongating my walk," Armbruster said. "The whole way I was pretty much with other people, about 95% of the time, until I had to cross over into the neighborhood where my car was parked."

Armbruster said when she got into the neighborhood, she saw someone.

"I saw movement of a male figure, assuming that this guy just lived in this house and was outside, perhaps smoking a cigarette. He looked naked, like from first glance I thought, ‘wow, he looks naked’, but I just didn't think that could be, but I followed my gut and my gut said don’t go that way," Armbruster said.

She said she turned instead of going straight. She said she then finally saw her car.

"I was steps away from it when I heard very fast running footsteps right behind me," Armbruster said. "I turned, and as I turned, he was literally on me right there. He grabbed my hips. Imagine if someone was trying to pull your pants off aggressively, that's exactly what he was doing," Armbruster said.

She said she screamed as loud as she could.

"I was able to break free from him, and then I bolted running while I continued to scream. And I think that the chaos I created also scared him. He wasn't expecting that, and he bolted the other direction," Armbruster said.

Armbruster said she made it to her car and called 911.

"I was having trouble breathing, I was crying, I was just screaming randomly, I was shaking so bad," Armbruster said.

Austin police are now investigating

What's next:

Austin police are now trying to find the man who attacked her.

"I want people to know, I want them to keep their eye out, I want them to know this happened so they can protect themselves. But if you know anything at all, if you can get a lead that will help us find him, because we have not found him, I want to keep others safe," Armbruster said.

Armbruster said she hopes to start a self-defense class with other women so they would know what to do if anything like this ever happened to them.

The man was described as a thin white man with short brown hair.

This is an open and ongoing investigation.

If you have any information that may help in this investigation, call the Austin Police Department Sex Crimes unit at 512-974-5095.