The 46-year-old Washington woman was forced into a car at gunpoint about 2:30 a.m. Sunday from a District sidewalk, said Montgomery County Police spokeswoman Officer Julia Gilroy.

The woman was driven more than 30 miles to Hoyles Mill Road, forced out of the car and raped, police said. She then hid from her attacker in the partially wooded area, said Gilroy, who was unable to provide further details.

The woman knocked on several doors before a White Ground Road resident called the police about 5:30 a.m.

"You don't hear of these things very often fortunately so it is unusual," Gilroy said.

Boyds resident Candice Wilson said she and her husband Scott were roused by their dog barking early Sunday. "Shortly thereafter we heard someone calling for help," Wilson said.

Wilson said there has been some drug activity in the otherwise safe neighborhood, so she and her husband were at first unsure of how to respond. She called the police while Scott Wilson, carrying a baseball bat, went to investigate.

Scott Wilson found the woman wearing only a bra and skirt. "I feel bad for her that she knocked on three doors and no one answered," Candice Wilson said.

Wilson said Tuesday that she has been more nervous walking in the neighborhood and even in her home since Sunday. When her dog barked again when her husband was away, "I immediately locked the door," Wilson said, "which is not in my nature."

Wilson and Boyds Civic Association President Melissa Foster said the attacker must have been familiar with the area.

"Now we don't know if someone has scoped the area out and knows it's an area where they won't be seen to use as their playground," Foster said. "So I think that's something residents would be worried about."

Gilroy said police are working with the victim to develop a sketch of the attacker. They are looking for a light-skinned black man in his 40s, 5 feet tall and 180 pounds with a goatee described as thin around the mouth but thick on the chin. He was wearing a tan-and-red checkered shirt and khaki pants, police said.

The car was described as a yellowish, boxy, older, four-door Mazda or similar sedan with a light interior.

Although the incident began in Washington, Gilroy said officers from the Fifth District in Germantown are investigating because the rape occurred in Montgomery County.

Hoyles Mill Road was also the site of a well-publicized sexual assault in October 2000 when a 26-year-old woman, confronted by an armed man in her car when she returned from dropping her child off at day care at Ronald McNair Elementary School, was forced to drive to the rural location.

A Germantown teenager later pled guilty to first-degree rape in connection with the case.