Arrest made in rape attempt at Salt Lake motel

A man who police say attempted to rape a woman at a Salt Lake motel was arrested Thursday night.

Barry Higbee, 46, was arrested at his mother's apartment near 4100 South and 2700 West about 11 p.m. Investigators received a tip about Higbee's whereabouts after the attack was broadcast on local television newscasts.

At first Higbee's mother said her son was not there, said Salt Lake City police detective Jeff Bedard. But an officer conducting surveillance in the rear of the building saw someone through the blinds walking around inside, he said.

The officer received permission to search the apartment and found Higbee hiding behind a laundry room door. He was being held Friday in the Salt Lake County Jail on no bail for investigation of aggravated burglary and rape.

The original incident was early Wednesday when police say Higbee had just checked into a Salt Lake City motel. A woman in the adjacent room, who was watching TV on her bed with the door cracked open, said she noticed the man walk past her room a couple of times.

During one of his trips, however, the man pushed his way into the room, jumped on top of the woman and demanded sex, Bedard said. The woman was able to grab a pair of scissors from the night stand but the man pushed them away, he said.

The scissors only made the man angrier and he then threatened to kill her, Bedard said. At one point during the assault, however, the man stopped to shoot-up drugs, he said. The woman used the opportunity to escape out of the room.