CLAY HILL – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is asking residents to be weary and to be on the lookout for a man they suspected of attempting to grab a woman early Tuesday morning in Jennings State Forest while she was walking her dog.

According to Sheriff Michelle Cook, the dog scared the man away, but the agency wants to locate him before anyone else is approached near Powell Ford Road on the Nolan side of the forest.

The woman regularly walked her dog in the area, Cook said, when she was approached by the man. He grabbed her arm, but the dog scared him and she ran away.

“Deputies responded and we've been out there all day,” Cook said. “We've done a comprehensive search of the area. We recovered the victim's backpack, and we deployed a canine out there, which proved negative. We have all indications at this point that this woman experienced a scary situation. We are still talking with her, and she's actually working on a composite picture of what the suspect looks like. This is pretty scary and I wanted to make sure our community is aware of what happened this morning in Jennings Forest.”

Cook said the man is described as described as a white male in his late 40s, approximately six-foot tall, medium build, between 200 and 215 pounds, gray salt-and-pepper beard with little or no mustache, scruffy hair, yellow teeth, a strong musty odor, wearing dark clothing, a dark long-sleeved shirt that had some sort of small graphic on the chest, dark jeans or pants and hiking boots.

If anyone has information, Cook asked them to call (904) 264-6512, or they can leave a SaferWatch tip. When the composite sketch is completed, it will be added to this post.