Man Accused of Trying to Drown Female Jogger on Houston Bayou

A 19-year-old man has been arrested after authorities say he attacked a woman who was exercising near a Houston-area bayou and attempted to drown her before she managed to fight back and escape.

Jacoby Isiah Fuselier is accused of assaulting the woman at about 6:30 p.m. Monday along White Oak Bayou, Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said in a statement announcing the arrest.

Investigators said the woman told deputies she resisted fiercely, scratching at Fuselier’s eyes and pulling out clumps of his hair before breaking free. After fleeing the alleged attack, she located deputy constables and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

“This is an incredible story of [a] woman’s strength and will to survive,” Rosen said. “We want to see that justice is done for her and we are thankful for the hard work by our deputies.”

As deputies searched for the suspect, they deployed a drone over the bayou. From above, authorities spotted what they described as a crime scene, including claw marks carved through mud and grass along the bayou bank.

Deputies then tracked fresh bicycle marks from the scene to a nearby residential street, where surveillance footage from a home captured a man riding a bike who appeared to match the attacker’s description, the constable’s office said.

Authorities said Fuselier later approached another woman in the neighborhood but left when he noticed her husband. The woman told investigators a man on a bicycle had whistled at her while she was outside her home moments before her husband came out, Fox Houston reported.

Fuselier was later arrested after a brief chase and struggle. He was found in possession of a cell phone belonging to the woman he allegedly attacked at the bayou, Rosen said.

He was initially charged with evading arrest on Tuesday, followed by two counts of aggravated sexual assault on Wednesday, police said.

INC News has reached out to Rosen’s office for further comment.