Woman raped by two home invaders

May 02, 2008 09:33 pm

— By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
Two men have been arrested for allegedly forcing their way into a Joplin woman’s apartment early Friday morning and raping her.
Joplin police were called to a small apartment complex in a west-central neighborhood at 12:50 a.m. Friday when a neighbor of the alleged victim reported hearing screams coming from her apartment.
Cpl. Chuck Niess, of the Joplin Police Department, said the neighbor tried to find out what was going on in the apartment after calling police, but a female she encountered outside the apartment shoved her away.
The two men had left the victim’s apartment when officers arrived, Niess said. But the neighbor provided information that helped locate them in a nearby apartment, and they and the woman to whose apartment they’d fled were arrested, he said.
Charges of rape and burglary were being sought against both men, one of whom had an outstanding warrant. The charges had yet to be filed by the Jasper County prosecutor’s office late Friday afternoon.
The woman was arrested and cited for misdemeanor assault on the neighbor.
Niess said the alleged victim, a 31-year-old woman, was taken to Freeman Hospital West, where a rape kit was obtained.
He said the woman told police that she’d answered a knock at her door, and two men forced their way inside her apartment. They took her into her bedroom and forcibly removed her clothes. Niess said they then both allegedly raped her.
One of the men arrested was described as a 34-year-old homeless man. The other man is 44 years old and has a Joplin address. They were taken to the Joplin City Jail while charges remained pending.