The University Police Department has released a sketch of a man it believes is the main offender in an August assault on campus, but four months after the attack there is concern that the release may be too late.

Adam Due, chief public safety officer, said the sketch was generated after several other avenues failed when trying to come up with suspects in the case. The composite was drawn by an Illinois state police sketch artist and depicts the most aggressive man in a group of six to eight white males who confronted Bill Feltt, an English professor, in August.

“This was the person in his face,” Due said. “(He) is the one (Feltt) could identify.”

The aggressor initiated a fight with Feltt Aug. 27 at 1:20 a.m. on the southwest corner of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The man and an unknown number of others within the group physically assaulted Feltt, hospitalizing him for several weeks with a brain hemorrhage and a fractured skull.

Though Due said the release of the sketch kept him hopeful, Feltt has little optimism left.

“I guess I am not very hopeful,” Feltt said. “I guess in a perfect world someone would see and recognize someone and tell the police. But, obviously this isn’t a perfect world and I don’t think this far down the line that would happen.”

If the sketch was released earlier when the assault was fresh in the public’s mind, Feltt said he thought it would have served more purpose. If someone saw the suspect in passing, he or she might recognize him.

Now, however, he believes the sketch may only be useful to someone close to the offender.

“It seemed to me the logical thing would be to do the sketch first,” Feltt said.

Police are looking for a white male in his 20s who is about 6 feet tall and 175 pounds. The sketch depicts the man’s most recognizable characteristic, a beard that follows along the jaw line with no moustache.

Due said he hopes the drawing will give people a better idea of who police are looking for and narrow the search because many people can fit the initial description.

“We hope someone will recognize the person,” he said. “We felt it would be easier to show people rather than describe him (with words).”

A second, less aggressive man in the group described as a 5-foot-8-inch male at about 160 pounds and dark complexion also attacked Feltt. However, Due said the victim did not remember enough to make a sketch of the offender.

Though pessimistic, Feltt said this sketch is possibly the last opportunity to find his attackers.

“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen now,” he said.

“This may be last chance unless someone who is involved comes forward.”

Though his memory of events that night is sketchy, Feltt rated the drawing’s accuracy at a seven with ten being the closest match.

Another reason for the release of the sketch, Due said, has been the lack of solid leads or evidence in the case. Police are continuing to question the location of attack because of a lack of evidence found at the crime scene.

However, after a walk-through of events with police and recants of his story, Feltt has not remembered any new details. He also has failed to identify any suspects in photograph line-ups.

“We are hopeful. We’ve just run into snags,” Due said, referring to the lack of evidence at the scene.