Although the suspect has only been linked to yesterday's attack, police have not ruled out that he might be involved in three other recent attacks on older women.

Maui Police said the suspect is 6-feet to 6-feet-3, with a slim build and is possibly of Hawaiian-Chinese ancestry. He is clean-shaven and has a long and slender face, police said. Also, he may be in possession of a white or light-colored van.

In yesterday's incident, a Kahului woman was attacked shortly after 5 a.m. as she walked along Holua Drive. She scared off the man, who grabbed her from behind and tried to pull her to a dark roadside area, by sounding a hand-held electric alarm she was carrying. The attacker fled north on Holua Drive, police said. The woman did not need medical attention, police said.

The victims in the previous attacks were ages 87, 78 and 82.

The first attack occurred at 3 a.m. May 30, when an 87-year-old woman was raped in the bedroom of her Kahului home. The intruder broke a window to enter the house and stole a purse.

On June 14, a 78-year-old resident of the Hale Mahaolu senior residential community in Kahului was walking on Wakea Avenue around 5:30 a.m. when she was forced into bushes and assaulted.

On Aug. 17, an 82-year-old Kihei woman was raped by a man who entered her home through an unlocked window.