Winthrop sexual assault case prompts police to renew 2011 investigation
Just days after a sexual assault of a student on Winthrop University’s campus, police detectives are renewing their investigation into an unsolved sexual assault and kidnapping of a 20-year-old student near campus in 2011.
The 24-year-old Catawba man accused in Friday’s assault has been charged and he’s in jail after his bond was denied by a Rock Hill judge last week.
Rock Hill Police spokesman Mark Bollinger says there are some similarities between the 2011 case and the recent sexual assault. He would not comment on specifics about the similarities, citing the ongoing investigation.
The earlier case happened between 2 and 3 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2011, police records show. A student was kidnapped while walking to her car from an apartment on Rose Street, beside Winthrop’s campus. She told police that a black male in his early 20s, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark jeans and a black skull cap forced her into her car with a kitchen knife.
The unknown man directed the student to drive to a nearby apartment complex on West Main Street where he raped her in the parking lot, according to the Rock Hill Police incident report. The suspect told the victim that he’d given her AIDS before running away, the report states.
The rape was reported after the woman went to Safe Passage, a nonprofit organization in Rock Hill that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Police distributed a sketch of the suspect but have made no arrests in the 2011 case.
After Friday’s assault and arrest, Rock Hill detectives are re-opening the old case.
Detectives will look back at the forensic evidence from the 2011 rape and may eventually question the suspect arrested on Friday, Bollinger said.
Winthrop’s police department arrested Friday’s sexual assault suspect within minutes of the alleged incident. University officers charged John Tyrone Roddey Jr., 24, of Catawba with criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, according to police records.
Police have not named Roddey as a person of interest or a suspect in the 2011 case.
Roddey is accused of sexually assaulting a Winthrop student who was walking on campus around 2 a.m. Friday, according to a police report. Officers say he used a weapon to hold the woman against her will. The assault happened near a student dormitory, the report states.
Other students heard the victim screaming during the assault and called Campus Police, officers said. Roddey was arrested nearby while still on campus.
Winthrop officers are looking for more information about why Roddey was on campus, said university police Chief Frank Zebedis. Roddey is not a Winthrop student.
As a public university, Winthrop’s campus is not restricted for visitors. Its police department has sworn, armed officers on duty at all times.
Since Friday’s incident, Winthrop officers have visited on-campus dorms to talk with residence life staff members and students, Zebedis said. The campus is safe and the university has had several measures in place for many years to prevent assaults, he said.
Winthrop students can call campus police officers anytime for escorts across campus instead of walking by themselves. Officers also teach a specialized rape aggression self-defense class for female students.
Zebedis said ongoing assistance and counseling has been made available to the victim in Friday’s sexual assault. As Rock Hill police investigators re-open the 2011 case, Winthrop officers are happy to assist as needed, he said.
If a new look at the 2011 case ends in an arrest, it could help the student find closure and healing, said Joan Harris, sexual assault educator with Safe Passage.
In some cases where a sexual assault survivor can face her assailant in court, it can empower her, Harris said. It gives the survivor an opportunity to say, “You did not take everything from me.”
Safe Passage helps about 125 victims of sexual assault in York County every year. Its advocates and counselors also work with local law enforcement agencies and the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office to support sexual assault survivors who may need to testify at a criminal trial.
The “stranger assaults” that occurred in 2011 and on Friday at Winthrop are much rarer than instances of rape that happen when a victim knows the offender, Harris said. Without an arrest or without knowing the suspect, she said, there are many unanswered questions for sexual assault survivors.
This story was originally published November 5, 2014 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Winthrop sexual assault case prompts police to renew 2011 investigation."