PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
A man has been arrested in connection with an assault on a woman hiking on a popular trail in Washington Park Sunday night.
Kenneth Couch, 24, is facing charges of robbery, strangulation and rape. He is being held on $260,000 bail.
A team of Portland park rangers, acting on a tip from the Oregon Zoo security manager, found the man and his campsite at 10:45 a.m. Monday.
Michelle Dickson said she saw her attacker when she parked her car and left her husband, walking up the Wildwood Trail. As she walked, she said she could hear the man's heavy boots following her every twist and turn. Just 10 minutes later - when no one was around - she said he attacked.
"He came up behind me and had me in a neck lock and I started screaming," Dickson said.
The scream was loud enough for people to hear from a nearby lookout. As the man ran off, hikers and a police officer came to help Dickson.
After the attack, Dickson was calm when talking to officers, but she said the assault scared her.
"I was afraid that he didn't seem to want money. He didn't ask for that. I thought he was going to do something to me physically," Dickson said.
A dozen officers searched Washington Park using ATVs and a K-9 unit in the wake of the incident.
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