A 43-year-old Lakeview neighborhood man is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman he met outside a Near North Side nightclub in 2013, prosecutors said.
Robert Walters, of the 600 block of West Diversey Parkway in Lakeview, was ordered held in lieu of $5 million bail Tuesday by Cook County Criminal Court Judge Adam Bourgeois, Jr.
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On April 14, 2013, the victim, 21 at the time, had been drinking with her friends at the now-closed Castle Chicago nightclub in the 600 block of North Dearborn Street. She became intoxicated and disoriented, and lost her friends throughout the night, prosecutors said. She left the nightclub and walked to the curb of the street to hail a cab when she fell and cut her knee, which started bleeding, prosecutors said.
Walters then approached the woman and offered her a ride home, which the woman initially refused, prosecutors said. Walters was persistent, prosecutors said, and eventually the woman agreed to enter his car. The woman could barely stand, so Walters had to pick her up and put her inside his car.
During the drive, the woman fell out of consciousness and awoke to find herself in front of Walters’ apartment building, prosecutors said. When she indicated that she didn’t live there, Walters told her they were making a “pit stop.”
The woman refused to go inside, but Walters opened the car door, removed the woman’s seatbelt, pulled her out of the car and then dragged her into his apartment unit, prosecutors said.
He pulled her up the stairs to a bedroom loft, injuring her left ankle.
Walters pulled the woman’s clothes off, dropped her onto the bed and began to sexually asault her, prosecutors said.
The woman was unconscious during parts of the attack but was aware of the assault, protesting and scratching at Walters. After the attack, Walters threw the woman’s clothes at her and demanded she put them back on, prosecutors said. The woman put all her clothes back on except for her tights, which were bloodied.
Walters grew impatient and forced the woman’s boots onto her feet, causing pain to her left foot, where she had injured her ankle, prosecutors said.
Walters then demanded the woman’s cell phone and dialed his own phone number, calling his phone from her phone. Walters then dragged the woman back to his car and drove her home, leaving her in front of her apartment, prosecutors said. The woman crawled up the stairs and into her apartment.
When the woman’s roommate came home, the woman told her everything she recalled from the incident. She went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Center where tests were performed and she was treated for a gash on her knee that required stitches and a sprained ankle, prosecutors said.
After the attack, Walters texted the woman, explaining to her how she got her injuries. Chicago police later learned the phone number Walters texted her from belonged to him, prosecutors said.
Investigators in April learned through a check of the DNA database that there was a strong association between Walters’ DNA and the DNA found on the victim, prosecutors said. The victim then positively identified Walter in a photo array earlier this month.
Walters was arrested at his home Aug. 22, prosecutors said.
The baiduhai’s Steve Schmadeke contributed.