Park visitors in Queens worry about ‘dark’ spots after brutal sexual assault on 13-year-old girl

For all its sun-drenched spaces and lush trees, Kissena Corridor Park in Queens also has a dark side: dense, dark woods that many people avoid.

There, under a thick canopy of leaves that blanketed the ground with inky, elongated shadows, a 13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a tattooed man armed with a knife on Thursday, leaving unsettled parkgoers wondering what other horrors lay hidden among the trees.

“It’s dark there,” Paul Kim said of the remote path where the afternoon attack took place. “I always thought they should install some kind of surveillance there or close it off completely.”

“Generally, you don’t see kids hanging around there,” he said of the dark path. “Most kids probably find it creepy there. Even I would look around.”

On Saturday, New York City police had set up portable floodlights along the trail and patrolled the path on horseback. Every few feet, a wanted poster was posted with a sketch of the sex offender involved in the attack. On his chest was an elaborate tattoo of a horned, red-eyed wild boar.

“He probably knew he had to wait in this area,” said Kim, 48. “We want this guy captured.”

Police searched intensively for the attacker on Saturday and hoped that DNA from a water bottle left at the crime scene could help with identification.

The villain approached the 13-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy as they had just finished playing soccer near the corner of Colden St. and Kalmia Ave. and ordered them to follow him into the woods.

When they refused, he pulled out a “large machete-like knife,” NYPD Criminal Investigation Chief Joseph Kenny said Friday.

He took the children to the park, tied their hands with a shoelace and sexually abused the girl. He then ran off with his victims’ cell phones, police said.

“It’s terrible,” Kim said. “It’s surprising that it happened at 3 p.m. It’s just crazy.”

Visitors to Kissena Corridor Park, a narrow green space that connects Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to Kissena Park, said they avoid the heavily wooded areas, especially in the evenings.

“I don’t normally walk here at night,” a park visitor who identified herself only as Grace told the Daily News as she looked at a wanted poster by the side of the road. “That would be crazy.”

Grace, 77, was shocked by the news of the attack and said: “It hurts my heart.”

“How old is the girl? 13?” she added. “We can’t trust (anyone). We have to be careful.”

According to recent statistics from the NYPD, there were two robberies and one assault in Kissena Corridor Park through March 31. Last year, there were four robberies, two assaults and one grand theft in Kissena Corridor Park, according to police.

In the foreseeable future, the NYPD plans to increase patrols, deploy drones, and install cameras in the park.

There are no cameras in the park itself, only at the entrances, but police expanded their search to find surveillance videos that could help identify the attacker.

“We will travel miles to find videos,” Kenny said.

The attacker is described as a Hispanic man in his 20s, approximately 5’5″ tall, with curly hair and braces. He was wearing a black T-shirt, black sweatpants and red sneakers and was carrying a green backpack.

He spoke English with a strong Spanish accent, Kenny said, adding that police are trying to determine whether the attack is connected to a pattern of robberies in the area.

A reward of $10,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

“This incident is every parent’s nightmare,” NYPD Commissioner Jeffrey Maddrey said Friday. “The entire community should be very dismayed by this and ready to help the police solve this problem.”

Anyone with information about the attack and the whereabouts of the attacker is asked to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be treated confidentially.