Editor’s note: For those who missed our breaking news online update this summer, here is a recapitulation of the events that unfolded last May with the charges filed against William Harris, the suspect in February’s Myers sexual assault case.
On May 25, Clayton Police Department and the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) announced the arrest of a suspect in the sexual assault of a Washington University student in Myers residence hall, which occurred Feb. 12, 2007. The suspect was identified as 24 year-old William Harris.
Harris had been in custody since March 5, 2007 for violation of his parole in an unrelated crime that occurred in University City in 2003. He became the prime suspect in the sexual assault case after further investigations by both Clayton Police Department and WUPD.
Warrants were issued today against Harris for burglary in the First Degree, three counts of forcible sodomy, forcible rape, robbery in the Second Degree, kidnapping and sexual misconduct in the Second Degree. The latter, however, is not in relation to the student assault and is an incident of indecent exposure occurring January 2007.
Captain Steve Grenier of Clayton Police was unable to comment on the specifics of the case, but stated that information gathered from a detailed investigation of the crime scene led to this arrest.
Grenier reports no knowledge of whether the suspect knew the victim.
“At this time we would classify this as an isolated incident,” said Grenier.
William Harris lived in U. City at the time and is a former employee of the Subway on campus. He was not employed by Subway at the time of the incident, although Grenier was unable to provide details as to the date of his termination.
At this point, Grenier believes the attack was random.
Washington University Police Department Chief Don Strom was also at the press conference announcing the suspect and thinks it is likely that Harris tailgated, or followed another student, into the Myers residence hall.
Strom also reported great cooperation with the survivor and with an additional witness, who is also a Wash. U. student.
“[The survivor] is doing great. She is an incredible inspiration to the investigators who worked on this case and she’s been an incredible asset in this case,” said Strom.
Strom expects further campus security measures, which were discussed during the campus security forums following the attack, to be in place for the fall semester.
“Hopefully [students] can rest assured and draw from this that the system was able to work and we were able to identify the suspect. The community helped a lot,” said Strom.
At this time, no further developments on the case have been made and a court date has yet to be established.
“We’re waiting for the next court date to be assigned. There’s nothing new at this stage. We’re like everybody else, just waiting for the process to move along,” said WUPD Police Chief Don Strom.