CBS4 Exclusive: Police Arrest Man For Labor Day Rape Near Sunrise Park
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – Eleven months ago a woman was grabbed, beaten and raped along the western edge of Cypress Preserve Park in Sunrise.
The crime was unsolved until last week when Edward Ferger was arrested last Tuesday in New York by U.S. Marshals as he walked out a library in a tiny hamlet on Long Island.
An arrest report obtained by CBS4 News said Ferger is being charged with sexual battery with great force and robbery.
The attack was brutal.
According to the arrest report, "(T)he victim advised Ferger struck her so hard about the facial area that she believed she started to see stars and may have lost consciousness."
The report added, "(T)he victim believed the suspect would kill her if she did not comply with his sexual requests. The suspect continued to strike the victim in the face with such force as to cause fracturing to her left orbital eye area."
The victim, who only speaks Mandarin, told police that Ferger sexually battered her for about eight minutes, and when the attack was over he stole her cellphone.
Police said they have DNA evidence against Ferger from the victim's hands as well as a beer bottle found near the scene.
The report stated there was a match "made positively identifying the defendant, Edward Michael Ferger as the source of the DNA found on the victim's hands/nails as well as the source of the DNA on the beer bottle."
They also matched Ferger to the victim through other physical evidence.
CBS4 spoke to several people who lived near Ferger's old apartment just a short distance from the scene of the rape.
"Me, as a female, being here, that's very dangerous," said a woman, who did not want to be identified. "There's a whole bunch of other women around here, children as well."
The police report said Ferger worked at a bar a block away from the attack.
A manager at the business told CBS4 News that Ferger worked as a cook there and was employed there at the time of the attack. That person also told CBS4 News that Ferger had health issues and recently moved back to New York.
People who live near the park said they remember seeing Ferger around, riding his bicycle and making small talk.
"He would stare at you a lot," said a woman who also declined to be identified. "Stare at you. That was kind of weird."
They're glad Ferger is locked up and facing charges and they said they'll feel more comfortable walking their streets.
The arrest report said Ferger denied attacking the woman.
Authorities in New York said Ferger agreed to be extradited, and the next step is for Sunrise police to make arrangements to transport him back to Broward to face these charges.
