Police seek rape information

Police are trying to gather more information about a man who raped a 19-year-old woman late Monday night, according to Chapel Hill police reports.

The Chapel Hill woman, who was not a UNC student, was walking on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard away from downtown Franklin Street after 11 p.m., Chapel Hill police Lt. Kevin Gunter said.

A stranger grabbed her from behind when she was near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Municipal Drive, dragged her to a car and raped her, Gunter said.

After he raped her, he kidnapped her, drove her to the Chatham County line at U.S. 15-501 and left her there, Gunter said.

She was there until daylight, when she found a bus and took it to an area closer to her home, Gunter said. She then called police, reports state.

The woman was not injured or drugged and she has not reported that a weapon was used in the assault, Gunter said.

“There are still some pieces to this that we’re trying to develop more information about,” he said.

Police still don’t have information about the vehicle that was used in the assault, Gunter said.

An investigator is working with the victim to see if she can remember anything more about the assault, Gunter said.

Police have not released any further information about the victim.

“Our main emphasis is protecting the victim,” police Sgt. Jason McIntyre said.

The last rape in Chapel Hill occurred in February, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard by Homestead Drive, Gunter said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of sexual assaults,” McIntyre said.

The Orange County Rape Crisis Center averages 400 clients a year, said Krista Park Berry, volunteer management and marketing coordinator.

About 25 percent of those calls pertain to a rape, while the rest pertain to sexual abuse, harassment and stalking, Berry said.

“It can be very scary when it happens in this community,” she said. “And there are many survivors of sexual violence who don’t come forward and report it.”

The center only knows about half the ages of the clients they serve because of confidentiality, but of those, 25 percent are 18 to 29 years old, Berry said.

Sexual violence tends to happen in isolated places like abandoned roads or houses, Berry said.

Monday night’s incident is unusual because the victim didn’t know the person who kidnapped her, Berry said. An estimated 75 to 80 percent of sexual assaults are committed by people the victim knows, she said.

The rape crisis center cannot say whether they are working with the victim.

The repercussions of a rape vary, Berry said.

“The severity of the sex violence isn’t determined by the aggressor, but by the victim’s reaction to the event.”


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