‘They made me feel insane’: Rape survivor at sentencing slams Independence police
An Independence woman who was raped three years ago in her own home, in front of her 2-year-old daughter, once thought she would never get justice.
But on Thursday she did. And she took the opportunity in court to criticize the way Independence police handled her case.
William Luth pleaded guilty Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court to raping the woman. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
He admitted that he was one of the strangers who sexually assaulted the woman for hours before leaving her alone in pain and fear as she tried to reassure her daughter.
Luth and a co-defendant charged in the case may never have been caught if they hadn’t raped another woman eight months later.
That second victim was a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy, and DNA recovered in her case matched DNA from the Independence woman’s rape.
Those two samples matched Luth’s partner in crime, Brady Newman-Caddell.
“(Luth is) here because I got a rape kit done, and another woman got a rape kit done, and Johnson County detectives took a rape seriously, and forensic scientists did their job,” the Independence woman said in court Thursday.
“Not because of any fantastic investigative work by the Independence beat cops who clearly received zero training in the best practices of dealing with sexual trauma victims, and who made it abundantly clear that they were pretty sure I was just being dramatic.”
The Star generally does not identify victims of sex crimes.
From the outset, the woman said, police seemed to doubt her story. She felt they blamed her in part.
They questioned her about past sexual partners and her sexual habits. They pored over her social media history and phone contacts.
“They made me feel insane. They questioned my story,” she said.
Since her account was proven as true, she said, she has received no acknowledgment or apology from police.
“But they’ve said nothing to me,” she said. “At least with him (Luth) I get an admission of guilt, even if I don’t get an apology. Proof I was telling the truth. Proof I’m not crazy.”
She said it made her sick when she found out that Luth had raped another woman.
“All I could do was throw up, and go to my friend’s house and cry, my heart broke,” she said. “I owed this woman so much gratitude for being strong enough to endure what they had done, and to have the courage to seek justice. Without her, I wouldn’t be here facing William Luth today.”
Both Luth and Newman-Caddell have pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping the deputy. Luth was sentenced to 41 years in prison in that case, and Thursday’s 30-year sentence will run concurrently.
Newman-Caddell was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in the Johnson County case, but the hearing was called off when he told the judge he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 4:44 PM.
