At teen’s court hearing, two Shawnee women tell of home break-ins, sexual assaults
Two women testifying in court Wednesday each described waking up at night to find she was being held down and sexually assaulted by a stranger who had broken into her Johnson County home.
Details of the crimes were revealed in a preliminary hearing in Johnson County District Court for 18-year-old William Louis Elliott of Overland Park, who is charged with rape, two counts of attempted aggravated sodomy, one count of aggravated sexual battery and three counts of aggravated burglary.
He is accused of breaking into three homes and attacking women in Shawnee. Two of the crimes were reported near 75th and Goddard streets, and a third happened more than three miles away, near 55th and Caenen streets.
The crimes were reported on Sept. 27, Sept. 29 and Oct. 1. After the third attack, Shawnee police announced to the public that they were searching for Elliott in connection with the break-ins. He has been in custody since Oct. 2.
In court on Wednesday, two of the women testified that they fought off their attacker.
The first victim said she was asleep in bed when she was awakened by a man pressing against her body. The attacker told the victim to cooperate.
“I screamed ‘Oh my God, Oh my God, no’,” the woman said in court.
The second victim said she too was awakened by a man on top of her.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she said. “I thought it was a bad dream.”
The woman said that despite being drowsy, she tried to fight off her attacker.
“I kept saying, who are you? What are you doing, why are you here? I kept asking questions not realizing what was going on.”
The victim said her attacker threatened to shoot her in the head if she did not perform a sex act. As they struggled, the man removed a part of the woman’s clothing and assaulted her.
The woman said she still managed to push the man away and kicked him in the groin. The man then ran out through a back door.
Neither woman was able to provide a detailed description of her attacker.
On Wednesday, crime scene technicians in court testified that at the crime scenes they collected fingerprints from a patio door and from the outside of a garage window. They said the fingerprints belonged to Elliott.
The preliminary hearing, which is meant to determine whether there is enough evidence to hold Elliott for trial, was continued to another day after a third victim failed to appear in court.
At a later hearing, a police detective is expected to testify that investigators were able to trace GPS data on Elliott’s cellphone to where the assaults occurred.
Elliott is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 28.
Elliott was initially arrested and charged with sexual battery and one count of aggravated burglary for a break-in and attack reported Oct. 1, according to court documents.
Prosecutors later filed five additional counts that involved the two other victims.
Elliott is being held on a $75,000 bond.
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 5:31 PM.
