The sexual assault occurred Sunday night in the 900 block of Valley Drive, police said.
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The woman arrived home around 8:30 p.m. and said a man entered her home through the front door and then raped her. He then fled through the front door.
A neighbor said the suspect wiped his fingerprints clean from the crime scene before he took off.
"The guy just walked up the stairs and went inside and closed the door," Miguel Kulczycki said. "He said something like, 'I'm already registered in the registry somewhere' and 'I'm a psycho - a psychopath' and he thought that she was very attractive so that's why he followed her upstairs."
Kulczycki was home but said he didn't see or hear anything when his neighbor came home from the beach.
The disturbing assault is particularly chilling for neighbors and police because there appear to be no cameras or witnesses that captured the suspect.
"This is a complete stranger so that makes it even more shocking and harder to deal with," Manhattan police Sgt. Tim Zins said.
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Kulczycki said suspicious people frequent the park across the street and walk along the bushes. He said more than once a stranger has come up the stairs when the door is wide open.
"You know people are walking around, looking around, and there's an open place they'll go in," he said.
Police described the suspect as a man in his early 40s, with an athletic build, standing about 6 feet 2 inches tall, with a medium complexion, possibly a thin mustache, and wearing tan shorts, a dark T-shirt and gray tennis shoes.
So far, they have no leads.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Manhattan Beach Detective Jennifer Leach at 310-802-5125 or call the Manhattan Beach Police Department Tip Line at (310) 802-5171.