Updated at the bottom: Investigators have leads in the latest case. First posted at 5:50 p.m.

A UCLA student was sexually assaulted on campus early today, according to campus police.

The attack happened about 2:20 a.m. “at the top of the Saxon Steps,” according to a UCLA police statement.

The school reported two sexual assaults in fall. We left a message with a UCLA police spokeswoman to ask if the crimes might be related. In all the cases …

… the suspect's race was said to be the same. But, the description in today's attack paints a picture of a skinnier guy:

… 6'0″/150, brown short hair, Blue eyes, wearing shorts, white t-shirt, with an oval face.

Our description of a suspect in at least one of the two attacks from September:

6 feet, 1 inch tall with a “heavy build” and short brown hair and wearing a Nike t-shirt, athletic shorts and white shoes.

Cops said the attack happened after the suspect, at the top of the steps, “contacted” the victim somehow.

UCLA police are continuing to investigate this latest assault. They're telling women on campus not to walk alone at night if possible.

[Added]: This wikimapia entry for the Saxon Steps says the location is also known as the “rape trail”:

It has become commonly known to UCLA students as “Rape Trail” due to its low lighting and path along somewhat heavy shrubbery, alluding to prime conditions for a rapist to lurk. There have in fact been no rapes committed on this trail.


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[Update at 6:22 p.m.]: Nancy Greenstein, director of community services for UCLA police, tells us that authorities on campus don't think today's assault and September's attacks are related.

She noted that the account of the latest attack suspect could describe a student (whereas the man in at least one of the September attacks apparently drove a van and sounded a bit homeless-esque if you ask us).

And, Greenstein said, investigators looking into the morning crime are following up on “a number of leads” as we speak.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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