RICHMOND, IN — A Richmond man has been accused of attacking and trying to sexually assault a teenager on the Cardinal Greenway.
Billy Wallace, 37, has been charged in Wayne Circuit Court with attempted rape, strangulation and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.
A 16-year-old local girl told investigators she was walking on the Greenway on the evening of Monday, June 29, when a man she did not know approached her from behind, placed a towel around her mouth in an apparent bid to gag her, and dragged her off the walking trail.
The teen said the attacker also placed his hands around her neck, “making it difficult to breathe,” according to an affidavit.
She said when she urged the man not to kill her, he responded by saying he didn’t intend to kill her but did intend to rape her, the court document said.
The girl said she continued to struggle with the man, who then “stopped what he was doing” and handed her a T-shirt to wipe her nose, which was bleeding. The assailant then ran from the area, she said.
The victim called her mother, who contacted emergency dispatchers. The teen — described by an officer as “in emotional distress and “very frightened” — was later treated at Reid Hospital.
Richmond police said they later recovered the T-shirt the attacker had given the teen, featuring an image of Sonic the Hedgehog, near the scene of the attack.
They later found surveillance video that showed a man matching the description of the attacker — later identified as Wallace — wearing the shirt while walking near the greenway.
Interviewed by investigators on July 3, Wallace reportedly at first maintained that if he had attacked the teen, he did not remember it.
According to the affidavit, however, Wallace later acknowledged, “I guess I did grab her.”
He said he also recalled “standing over (the victim) and and seeing her covered in blood coming from her nose,” the court document said.
Wallace told police he was “very high” on meth when he went to the greenway that day.
“From the bottom of my heart, I’m so sorry,” he reportedly said.
The Richmond man declined to give officers a sample of his DNA. But investigators believed they recovered a DNA sample from a water bottle Wallace left at the police department.
Arrested that day, Wallace continued to be held in the Wayne County Jail on Tuesday under a $500,000 bond.
The most serious charge against him, attempted rape, is a Level 3 felony carrying up to 16 years in prison. The other two charges are Level 6 felonies with maximum 30-month sentences.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond man charged with attempted rape in Cardinal Greenway attack
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item / Richmond Palladium-Item
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item | USA TODAY Network
