Georgetown U. Attacks -- Same M.O., Different Suspect Details -- Baffle Police

"Oh, yeah, 'the Georgetown Cuddler,' " said Clara Zabludowsky, a 21-year-old senior, invoking the commonly used nickname for the assailant or assailants -- a moniker that police say is inappropriately cute given the nature of the crimes.

Said Eugenia Sosa, also 21 and a senior: "For April Fools' Day, my friends knew I'd been thinking about it, so one of my guy friends was going to sneak into my bedroom and cuddle me. That's how it's being taken, I think -- like it's not that serious."

Echoing Zabludowsky and Sosa, senior Elizabeth Mongan, 20, said, "I guess we're more apt to lock our doors and windows now, but we do that anyway." As senior Meagan Karenina, 20, put it: "It's just a regular safety thing. Common sense."

Parks said the "endearing" nickname suggests that the crimes "are something to be looked at lightly or trivialized," which worries investigators. "There have been various levels of assaults," he said. "Some have involved groping. Some have involved more aggressive touching. Some have involved the guy exposing himself. Some have involved attempted intercourse."

Not all young women at Georgetown are blasé about the incidents.

"Oh, I'm terrified," said Katherine Everitt, 17, a freshman. "I'm really scared. And I live on campus, so I'm not as close to the places where it's happened off campus. But I'm still really locking my door. Like, even when I run out to the bathroom, I'm really nervous."

Tuesday's incident occurred just four days after Everitt moved to Georgetown from her home in Los Angeles. "Before I came, I heard about 'the Cuddler,' " she said. "It sounded like a joke, like some guy comes in and lays down next to you or whatever. . . . Now the whole reality of it comes into effect, and you don't know if it's a student or who it is."

While detectives search for a suspect, the university urged students to keep their doors and windows locked "and be mindful of their personal safety."

"The safety of our students is a top priority for us," Georgetown spokesman Andy Pino said in a statement. "In addition to the [D.C. police] investigation, we've taken steps to enhance campus safety, including the recent hiring of additional public safety officers to step up patrols in and around the campus. We are asking everyone to be vigilant."

Meanwhile, police keep searching.

"We have no fingerprints, okay?" Parks said. "Then we try to get a composite sketch. But we haven't been able to effectively do that because of the various descriptions, or because of diminished lighting, or because the complainants were [sleep-] impaired, or because it happened so quickly, they didn't get a good look at the guy."

He sighed.

"We're looking at everything," he said. "We really are."