BUNCOMBE, NC  – The hiker who was found tied to a tree near the Blue Ridge Parkway was sexually assaulted, the National Park Service confirmed Wednesday, according to Citizens-Times.

Buncombe County Emergency Management says the 64-year-old woman was taken to the hospital after being assaulted on the Parkway.

The National Park Service has released a sketch of the suspect in the investigation.

They say the man is approximately 50-years-old with salt-and-pepper hair.

He is believed to have partially grown in (scruff and unkept) facial hair.

They think he was wearing a light or faded grey short sleeve T-shirt, baggy blue pants that appear to be old and faded.

He was wearing a dark pair of tennis shoes.

They also say the man may appear and smell of a musty odor of being unwashed in several days.