IT was like an episode of TV drama Crime Scene Investigation - only this was real life.
A Columbia University student, 23, was allegedly raped and tortured for 19 hours.
Her attacker allegedly used scissors to cut her eyes, forced her to take painkillers, and made her take a shower before dousing her with hot water and bleach to hide his tracks.
Then he is said to have made her cut her hair, then tied her to a futon before setting it on fire and leaving her to die.
The plucky victim managed to escape after the flames loosened her restraints.
The attack allagedly took place on 13 Apr.
The woman was entering her New York apartment when a man approached her and asked if she knew someone in the building.
When she said she did not, he pushed his way into her home and choked her when she attempted to scream, reported the NY Daily News.
SUSPECT SPOTTED
Three days after the incident, a suspect, Robert Williams, 30, was spotted blocks from the crime scene, after seen tearing down his own wanted poster.
A witness told the police that Williams stared at a sketch of his own face, then tore and crumpled it and stuffed it into his pocket.
And after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly asked the public for help finding the rapist, more people reported seeing Williams in the area.
Williams also used the 23-year-old rape victim's bank card to buy a MetroCard, a police source said yesterday.
He then allegedly broke into a vacant apartment, where he hid out until a group of New Yorkers captured him on Thursday and held him until the police arrived and arrested him.
The police said DNA recovered from the rape was still being analysed.
It will be compared with samples taken from other crimes to see if Williams is connected to other attacks.
Charges against him include an attempted murder conviction, rape, arson, kidnapping and burglary.