A man suspected of stabbing and raping an Over-the-Rhine woman in front of her 7-year-old son, and then stabbing the son in the eye, was being held in jail Saturday in lieu of $5 million bond.
Police said the suspect was beaten by the mother's boyfriend.
Charles Hitchcock, 20, of College Hill, was arrested on charges of aggravated burglary, felonious assault, kidnapping, rape, abduction and drug abuse. He was being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center.
Cincinnati Police said Mr. Hitchcock was arrested at Franciscan Hospital-Mount Airy Campus shortly after 7 p.m. Friday. He was seeking treatment for injuries he suffered earlier in the evening during a fight with the rape victim's boyfriend and another man. Sgt. Brian Stricker of the Cincinnati Police Division gave this account of the events:
The victim told her boyfriend that she recognized a man in the neighborhood as the man who had raped her.
The boyfriend and his friend then fought with the suspect, who ran down Vine Street and jumped into the back of a pickup truck to get away.
Waving a gun, he ordered the driver to go to Mount Airy. Once there, the suspect jumped from the truck and went into a home.
The man in the truck called police, who, seeing a lot of blood in the truck, realized the suspect was hurt and might need medical attention. An officer went to the nearest hospital and arrested the suspect when he showed up to have his injuries treated.
Police said the rape victim was a 23-year-old Over-the-Rhine woman who told police a man entered her home about 12:45 a.m. Thursday while she and her children were asleep.
She said the man raped her, stabbed her and tied her up with a telephone cord. She said he then forced her into a bathtub and turned on the water. He threw a curling iron into the water, but it did not injure her, she said.
The woman's son was stabbed in the eye. Her 4-year-old daughter was not injured. Before the attacker left the home, he made the woman call 911 and coached her on what to say, the woman said.
