LOCUST, N.C. -- A 16-year-girl is out of the hospital and receiving counseling after she was brutally attacked and raped just feet from her home in the Stanly County town of Locust.

Police said the man suspected of committing the assault has several aliases, but Adrian Zuniga is the name he's used most recently.

According to officers, Zuniga grabbed the teen, who was a neighbor, then strangled her as he dragged her by the neck into some woods on Wednesday. He then raped the young woman, police said.

The victim was treated at the hospital after the attack. Investigators headed to the scene of the crime, where they found evidence of a struggle and the rape that followed.

Marsha Drye lives in the neighborhood near Lakeside Drive.

"It's horrible, to be in your own area where you live and play, and then to be dragged into some woods," she said.

Immigration officials confirmed through police Thursday that the suspect in the attack is an illegal alien. His papers used fictitious numbers.

"It's horrible enough if he wasn’t an illegal immigrant, but to be illegally here in this country and commit these crimes just goes back to one of the basic problems we have here," Drye said.

Locust Police Chief Mike Haigler said the suspect could still be in the Charlotte area staying with friends, and he fears the man won't stop with this assault.

"He's out there somewhere. The probability is that he's going to commit these crimes again," he said.

Haigler said the man has a 14-year-old wife and a 40-day-old son. Zuniga allegedly called her Wednesday and said he was going to come home and kill her, then run away with the young son.

Anyone who has seen Zuniga should call 911 or the Locust Police Department at (704) 888-4744.