An MSU student sleeping in her East Lansing home awoke Friday morning as an intruder covered her mouth with his hand to keep her from screaming.

The woman, a communication senior, told The State News she reached for a knife the intruder had taken from her kitchen as the two struggled to her floor. With inches separating them as they wrestled, she screamed for help. The man tried to silence her again by shoving fingers down her throat - until she bit them.

Covered by a blanket and surrounded by roommates and friends Sunday, the student said the knife, her roommates and her screams might have scared the intruder away.

"He kept putting fingers in my mouth, like that would quiet me," she said, adding she and her roommates were yelling obscenities at the man.

The attack happened on Linden Street between Hagadorn Road and John R. Street at 8 a.m. The victim and her roommates asked not to be identified.

As she struggled with her attacker, her roommates ran into her room and attempted to stop the man. He ran down the stairs and outside the backdoor into the morning snow.

East Lansing police were at the scene within minutes, but were unable to apprehend the suspect despite a search.

"I just yelled out the whole time, 'Who the hell are you,' and then he ran out," said a botany senior, who was the first roommate to come to her rescue.

In a panic, the roommate fell down her stairs and then called police for help. Police later confirmed this report, but declined further comment during the weekend.

"I thought she was having a nightmare," said another roommate, a psychology senior. "You don't expect any strange man in your house."

Their dog, Boris, who was in the psychology senior's room, woke her up with its whining. They say the dog will now be free to wander the house throughout the night.

Because of the confusion, the women say they can't remember how long the attack lasted but estimated between one and five minutes. The roommates think the intruder might have been in the house for an hour before attacking the communication senior - they noted several doors were open in the house and one of the roommates mistook the man for one of her roommates.

Despite the attack, the communication senior said she won't stop living her life - she went out Saturday night.

"I would tell people to be more cautious," she said. "I'm not going to hole up in my house - I mean that's where it happened, anyway."

For security reasons, the roommates have changed locks in the house. They say the house's front door was locked before the attack - though they believe the man entered the house through a back door, which the women believed they locked before heading to bed.

The women describe the man as a white male in his mid-twenties, 5-feet-5 inches to 5-feet-8 inches tall, with a thin build, shaggy jaw-length blond hair and a bite mark on his hand. At the time of the attack he was wearing a red cap, gray sweat pants and a zip-up sweatshirt.

The roommates and the victim couldn't describe the man's face because they say he kept a hand over it throughout the attack. They said he didn't speak throughout the attack.

"This guy seems like he was pretty amateur - pretty stupid," the botany senior said. "It seems like to me he was a first-time offender because he was so dumb."

The house occupants, however, warn he may try to attack again because he ignored signs that the house was full.

The communication senior has been in contact with friends and family since the incident. Her mother came from Plymouth to see her after the attack.

"She said she was crying the whole way up here and she took me to get Mace," she said. "I think we have like six cans of Mace now."

The father of the psychology senior, said he's concerned about safety in the area and is waiting for the university's response. "I would hope the college would look into issues affecting students in the area," he said.

The residence has been occupied by the students for two years. They thought the neighborhood was safe until the attack and police told them several other assaults had taken place just blocks within the residence.

A woman woke up to a man with a knife last May on the 100 block of Kedzie Street and a sexual assault with a knife was committed against a woman two and a half years earlier on the 400 block of Ann Street.

The three attacks are all within a mile radius of each other.

"Nobody I've met in the neighborhood seems to be anybody who could do this," said Japanese sophomore Brian Bell, who lives across the street from the residence attacked Friday. He saw police lights when he woke later that day. "The fact that this assault occurred is pretty disturbing."

Doris Southerland, who has lived across the street for 29 years, said the neighborhood is safe.

"There's no place on Earth that is 100 percent safe," the 82-year-old said. "You have to be careful but there's a thin line between being careful and too uptight."

Chad Previch can be reached at previchc@msu.edu