An inmate accused of raping seven girls and women in the Little Havana neighborhood escaped a Miami-Dade County jail by climbing down from the roof using bed sheets tied together, police said Wednesday. A jail visitor alerted authorities to the escape after seeing an inmate climbing down the makeshift rope.

Police were searching neighborhoods, airports, rail stations and ports for Honduran native Reynaldo E. Rapalo, 34, who ran away from a maximum security section of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center late Tuesday, police said. Another man, Idano Bravo, tried to escape with him and was caught after he broke his legs while jumping. Bravo, who is also awaiting trial for sexual assault, underwent surgery Wednesday and was awaiting police questioning.

Rapalo is accused of being the Shenandoah rapist, who was the target of a massive manhunt following attacks on girls and women from age 11 to 79 in 2002 and 2003. He was to face trial in February.

"We fully realize he represents the worst kind of threat possible to the streets of Miami," Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker told reporters. "There will be no stone unturned."