News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Warrant outlines latest rape case

Published: Feb 22, 2007 12:00 AM
Modified: Feb 22, 2007 02:44 AM

Warrant outlines latest rape case

Friend, hospital worker gave clues to help identify the suspect after a party

 

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DURHAM - The woman who told police she was sexually assaulted Feb. 11 at an off-campus Duke party broke down in tears after emerging from the bathroom and immediately recounted the incident to a friend, according to a search warrant.

The accuser, according to the warrant, had danced with the suspect at the party organized by members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

When the accuser went to the bathroom around 3 a.m., according to the warrant and police, the suspect followed her and closed the door.

"Once inside of the bathroom," the warrant application said, "the suspect forced her to the ground causing her to hit her head on the sink, he then sexually assaulted her."

Michael Jermaine Burch, 21, of 322 Junction Road, Apartment 19-D, was charged Monday with second-degree rape. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

The arrest came eight days after investigators were called to 405 Gattis St.

The News & Observer's policy is to not identify victims of sexual assaults.

A search warrant filed in Durham County Court late Tuesday contains details indicating how investigators found the suspect.

The document also gives a glimpse of a college party with an invitation list of about 300 people posted on Facebook.com.

Four Duke students rent the two-story Gattis Street duplex at the end of a narrow road several blocks from Duke's East and West campuses.

The party started Saturday, but was still going Sunday morning with as many as 75 to 100 people around when the Duke freshman came out of the bathroom sobbing, according to the warrant.

The woman's friend took her outside, then returned to the duplex seeking clues, according to the documents. A student from Durham Technical Community College told the friend he thought the suspect's name was Chris.

The accuser went to Duke Hospitals on Sunday morning, according to police radio reports.

Two investigators assigned to the case, A.J. Simmons and R.J. Guardino, interviewed her the next day.

On Friday, investigators contacted the Durham Tech student. He told police the suspect played basketball most Saturdays at Wilson Gym on Duke's West Campus.

Police were able to track down a Duke Hospital worker who played ball with the suspect.

The two had played the day of the party, the warrant said, and both went with another acquaintance to the Gattis Street party.

At one point, the Duke Hospital worker saw the suspect dancing with the accuser, investigators said, and then the suspect went into the bathroom.

The hospital worker told investigators he heard "a thumping noise" coming from the bathroom; the hospital worker left the party without the suspect.

Police held at least two photo lineups, according to the warrant. In each, the suspect's picture was one in an array of eight. One witness selected Burch as the man he saw entering the bathroom, investigators said, and the other selected Burch as the man she saw leaving the bathroom.

On Monday, investigators went to the Brentwood Apartment Complex at 322 Junction Road, where Burch lived.

During a search of Apartment 19-D and a Ford Explorer parked outside, investigators seized a black bag containing several white shirts and two pairs of "sleep pants," 15 unopened condoms, one condom wrapper and a dietary supplement packet with one pill inside.

The accused, according to police, is not a college student. He was arrested outside the Rose's store on N.C. 54, where he worked.

Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.

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