Prosecutor won’t file charges in second TKE rape case

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice talks to reporters Wednesday during a press conference called to announce that no charges will be filed following an investigation into an alleged rape on Halloween night at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house in Maryville.

Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice said during a press conference Wednesday that no charges will be filed in the second of two alleged rape incidents at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house in Maryville.

The episodes spawned both criminal investigations and an extensive review on the part of administrators at Northwest Missouri State University into the after-hours activities of what had been one of the school’s largest and most influential Greek-life organizations.

Northwest Vice President of Student Affairs Matt Baker announced Tuesday that Northwest’s Delta Nu chapter of TKE has had its institutional recognition revoked by the university, a move that essentially shuts down the chapter until at least 2019.

Despite what he described as a determined effort on the part of Maryville Public Safety investigators, Rice cited a lack of evidence in saying he would not file charges in connection with the second incident, which happened overnight on Oct. 31.

There was a known male suspect in the case. Rice said the man, to the best of his knowledge, remains a student at the university.

The first alleged rape at the TKE house took place in early March. A subsequent investigation by Maryville police led to Rice filing felony rape charges against then 22-year-old Abraham Flores Acosta, who is set to stand trial in June.

As for the second incident, Rice said there simply isn’t enough evidence to make a case before a jury that the alleged victim is telling the truth and the alleged attacker is lying.

Rice said the encounter between the former suspect and the college-age woman — neither of whom were identified — took place in the early hours of Sunday, Nov. 1, but that the incident was not reported via a campus relationship violence hotline until Sunday evening.

After the woman called the hotline, Rice said, campus and city police responded promptly, as did the Children and Family Center of Northwest Missouri, a local battered women’s shelter that assigned a victim’s advocate to the case.

During the hours that followed, Rice said, officers from Maryville Public Safety, led by Detective Ryan Glidden, collected physical evidence, interviewed witnesses, and examined social media sites in an attempt to determine what had happened.

Rice said there was no doubt that sexual intercourse occurred, and that the apparent victim told police she warned off her alleged attacker with the words, “Don’t touch me.”

The woman was also examined by medical personnel and completed a “rape kit.”

But because hours had passed between the time of the alleged attack and the subsequent investigation, crucial evidence, such as the woman’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the encounter, could not be collected.

In Missouri, sexual intercourse can be considered rape if the victim is too inebriated or impaired to knowingly give consent.

While Rice said both the man and woman had been drinking, there was no way to tell how much. He said the woman reportedly attended two other fraternity parties on the evening of the alleged attack before ending up at the TKE house.

As for the “don’t touch me” comment, the former suspect simply denied the woman uttered those words and claimed the sex was consensual.

In such an instance, Rice said, there is only one way to make a case, the admission by both parties that sex occurred and a “third prong” consisting of either an admission of guilt or physical evidence that the victim was attacked or coerced.

Such evidence, Rice said, might include bodily injury or the presence of a knife, gun, or other weapon.

Though no charges were brought, Rice said he was “proud” of the level of inter-agency cooperation brought to bear during the investigation, which he ascribed to the formation a couple of years ago of the Nodaway County Sexual Assault Response Team.

The team, which meets regularly, consists of local law enforcement officials as well as representatives from social service agencies and the court system.

Asked if he supported Northwest’s decision to shut down the TKE chapter, Rice said the move was a university matter and offered no opinion. He added, however, that he “appreciated the efforts Northwest is making to protect the safety of the students” and to create “a nurturing environment where they can learn and be academically successful.”

Rice closed the press conference by saying the dropped case illustrated the importance of preventing sexual assault through education and outreach before such crimes occur.

“We must prioritize prevention …” he said. “We must prevent this from happening.”