https://cbs12.com/news/local/dna-lea...ker-sex-attack
DNA leads to arrest in hitchhiker sex attack
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) —
A man accused of raping a woman he picked up in his car is behind bars, thanks to DNA and legislation that required the testing of backlogged sexual assault kits.
Richard Christophe, 29, is facing charges of sexual battery on a victim older than 12, and kidnapping/false imprisonment of an adult.
The investigation began
in August 2015 when a neighbor found a 51-year-old woman standing naked in the middle of the road in Lantana. The neighbor took her in and covered her with a blanket. The first deputy on scene noticed the woman visibly shaken and she kept saying, "He beat me up, he beat me up."
According to the arrest report, the woman said she was walking by herself near 8th Avenue South and South Avenue J in Lake Worth when a man pulled up in a car, offering her a ride. Once inside the car, she said
he grabbed her by the throat, told her not to scream, and forced her to perform oral sex on him. She said they drove around for hours before stopping at a home. She could only remember the home was on a dead end street near a shopping center and had leather furniture inside. She said
he made her perform oral sex on him again in the shower. Once he fell asleep, she said she ran to a neighbor's house.
The woman told the neighbor to call police, but she didn't. According to the arrest report, the attacker came out of the house, saw the woman talking with the neighbor and approached, calling the neighbor "aunty." The neighbor told the woman she and the man's mother had talked to him before about the same thing. At that moment, the man dragged the woman back to the car, telling the neighbor whom he referred to as "aunty" that it wasn't her business.
The woman said the man made her perform oral sex on him again and beat her up. She said he eventually shoved her out of the car and drove off.