Charles Hitchcock -- classified under Ohio law as a sexual predator -- had been staying with relatives in Over-the-Rhine around the time a woman in the next building was raped and stabbed.
That woman -- a 23-year-old mother of two -- didn't know the 20-year-old College Hill man's history.
She didn't know his crimes began at 12 years old with an attempted rape.
She didn't know that at 17 he was bound over to adult court in the sexual battery of a 16-year-old girl.
She didn't know a Hamilton County judge declared him a sexual predator on July 23, 1997.
What she learned came exactly a year later. That was when, she told police, a man stabbed her, tied her up, tried to electrocute her in the bathtub, raped her twice in front of her son and then stabbed her son in the eye.
What happened to the family is exactly what the sexual predator law aims to prevent.
"I'm angry," said a 28-year-old friend of the woman. "I'm angry that it had to happen to her. I'm angry that it had to happen at all. I guess I'll never understand why people do things like that." Most states passed sexual predator laws named after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a twice-convicted sex offender who lived across the street.
Under Ohio's version of Megan's law, a predator must register an address every 90 days. Neighbors living on either side, directly across from and immediately behind the offender are notified -- or at least one neighbor on each side in an apartment building.
In Mr. Hitchcock's case, neighbors on Oakwood Avenue in College Hill were notified that he was a sexual offender.
Mr. Hitchcock renewed his registration 10 days before the attack. Stephen Barnett, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokesman, said neighbors insisted he was living in College Hill.
Those who lived near where he was staying in Over-the-Rhine saw him around but were never warned. Mr. Barnett said authorities never knew to warn them.
Friends, still stinging from the shock of the crime, say the physical and mental scars on the family will be lasting. The likelihood of saving the vision in the 7-year-old son's left eye is slim, and the child remains hospitalized. The woman has been released and has moved out of her first-floor apartment on East 15th Street. The only comfort family and friends are taking is that Mr. Hitchcock was arrested and is being held in jail with his bond set at $5 million. Mr. Hitchcock's family did not return calls seeking comment.
The woman was with her boyfriend and a few other friends in a car Friday when she spotted Mr. Hitchcock on Vine Street, about two blocks from her apartment.
The boyfriend and another man went after him and beat him up. Mr. Hitchcock ran, and police say he ordered a pickup truck driver at gunpoint to drive him away. He sought help for his injuries at Franciscan Hospital's Mount Airy campus, where he was arrested on charges of rape, felonious assault, aggravated burglary, abduction, kidnapping and drug abuse.
Those are almost exactly the same charges he faced in 1995, when he was bound over to adult court. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was released from prison in September 1997.
This time, the victim's friend -- who asked not to be identified -- says she hopes the court will give a stiffer sentence.
"I hope he never gets to walk the street again."
