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Sword-wielding man beats, rapes River Forest woman
Kenneth W. Merrills
Updated: April 22, 2013 10:44AM
RIVER FOREST — A 20-year-old Chicago man has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault in an attack on a River Forest woman.
Kenneth W. Merrills, of the 6000 block of North Richmond Avenue, was arrested Thursday morning after a 43-year-old resident of the 8000 block of Lake Street called 911 at 7:45 a.m. to report she’d been sexually and physically assaulted.
The woman said the man was still inside, with the sword. River Forest officers, aided by Forest Park police, entered the residence and arrested Merrills without incident.
Invesigators said the woman was battered, sexually assaulted and illegally restrained from March 13 overnight through the morning hours of March 14.
The woman was hospitalized for “non-life threatening injuries” and released later Thursday, police said.
Merrills appeared in bond court Friday charged with Class X felony criminal sexual assault and unlawful restraint, a Class 3 felony. Bond was set at $15,000, but Merrills was ordered held on no-bond status after he was found to have violated his probation on a separate case.
He has a March 21 court date at the Maybrook Court House in Maywood.
