by Geoff Fox
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, in collaboration with the National Park Service and FBI Baltimore Field Office, has identified a suspect in the March 6, 2024, assault on a walking trail in the C&O Canal National Historical Park.
According to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, during their thorough investigation, law enforcement officials developed and confirmed the suspect’s identity as John Hawk, 34, of Florence, S.C.
At the time of the incident, police said, Hawk was believed to be residing in Frederick County, Md.
On March 6 of last year, around 6:30 p.m., Park Service law enforcement rangers, Maryland Natural Resources Police, and Maryland State Police responded to a report of an assault of a woman on the Canal Towpath Trail near Point of Rocks in Frederick.
According to the Frederick News-Post, a woman said a man watched her get on the trail near Point of Rocks and waited for her to return before attacking her.
In the paper’s report, the man forced her to the ground and covered her mouth and nose with his hand.
After attempting to fight him off, the paper reported the woman lied and said she had taken a picture of his car’s license plate earlier and then threw her phone.
When the man went after it, she escaped, the paper said.
Four days later, just before 12:30 p.m., a similar incident occurred near the Nolands Ferry parking lot. The description of the suspect matched that of the one from the Point of Rocks attack.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was requested to assist in the investigation with detectives working with the allied agencies to pursue multiple leads.
Those leads led to Hawk being identified as the suspect.
The Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges on Hawk, including attempted third-degree sex offense, false imprisonment, and second-degree assault. An arrest warrant was issued for Hawk.
On March 10, 2025, a detective from the Frederick County Sheriff’ s Office and a special agent from the FBI Baltimore Field Office traveled to Florence, South Carolina, in an attempt to locate and facilitate the arrest of Hawk.
Hawk was located and arrested without incident in cooperation with the Florence County Sheriff’ s Office and the Florence Police Department.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said Hawk is being held in Florence County, South Carolina, waiting extradition back to Maryland.
