wfn.org | DNA Test Clears Suspect in Rape of Presbyterian Center Worker

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20-August-1998 
98273 
 
    DNA Test Clears Suspect in Rape of 
    Presbyterian Center Worker 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Charges against a man accused of raping and robbing a woman 
barely a block away from the  Presbyterian Center here were dismissed Aug. 
17 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. 
 
    "The investigation has reopened, basically.  He's not the guy," 
Jefferson County prosecutor Doug Kemper told the Presbyterian News Service. 
Kemper said the charges against Damon Louis Hall of Louisville were dropped 
after DNA evidence confirmed Hall could not be the assailant. 
 
    "It certainly doesn't do anyone any good to have the wrong guy," Kemper 
said. "But we still have concerns that the person who committed [this rape] 
is on the loose.  It was a very vicious attack." 
 
    The assault occurred in broad daylight April 3 in a parking lot 
adjacent to the Center's primary parking garage while the victim was 
walking to her car.  The woman was an employee inside the building, but not 
a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) staffperson.  She has since quit her job. 
 
    Shortly after the April 3 rape was reported, another woman was beaten 
and taken to a vacant floor in a nearby office building and raped.  Another 
female Presbyterian Center employee thwarted an attempted assault in 
another downtown garage when she sprayed her assailant with chemical spray. 
Louisville Police believe the first two rapes may have been committed by 
the same person, but are not clear whether the third attempted assault is 
related to the other two. 
 
    All three victims reported to police that the assailant was a black 
male.  Police say the attacks somewhat resemble a rape committed over one 
year ago in still another downtown parking garage. 
 
    The 32-year-old Center worker told police she was approached by a black 
man in his mid-20s who forced her into her car, hit her in the face, 
demanded money, tied her hands with her panty hose, raped her once and 
stole the $1 bill she had in her purse, according to the Louisville Police 
Department.  After the attack, she drove herself back to the Presbyterian 
Center for help. 
 
    Though the rape and robbery charges have been dropped, Hall, who is 22 
and a convicted burglar, is currently in jail for violating probation, a 
matter that is unrelated to this case. 
 
    "There are no other suspects at this time ... and no leads either," 
said Louisville Police information officer Aaron Graham, adding that 
investigators considered the case closed until the DNA evidence emerged. 
Though no other downtown rapes have been reported since Hall was arrested, 
Graham said, police are still urging downtown employees to use caution. 
 
    "Be careful.  Use various safety precautions, especially if you work 
nights and especially if you are walking into deserted parking lots," he 
said. 
 
    The president of the denomination's National Staff Association, Tina 
Moulton, told the Presbyterian News Service that she still sees staffers 
with chemical sprays attached to their keychains, one outcome of the 
self-defense and crime prevention trainings run by the association after 
the first attack.  "I don't think there's a sense of panic anymore - that's 
died down.  But something like [an assault] makes you forever more aware. 
 
    "I don't think that goes away when [violence] hits so close to home," 
she said. 
 
    The denomination's Staff Leadership Team is still evaluating other 
security measures for the Presbyterian Center, including installing card 
access systems in the main lobbies and in entries to primary work areas. 
Installing more security cameras is also under consideration. 
 
    "Anytime there's an incident, it causes you to reexamine what you're 
doing," said PC(USA) Property Services director Bill Gatewood.  "We like to 
think we're maintaining security at a high level, but we need to constantly 
look at it." 
 
    Security guards are now stationed in the Witherspoon Parking Garage 
directly across the street  from the Center, and the denomination has hired 
patrols to monitor the perimeter of the building itself. 
 
    "This has had a tremendous impact on the staff in our building and in 
other businesses in the downtown area," said the Rev. Frank Diaz, who was 
the interim executive director of the General Assembly Council when the 
assaults happened.  He said security guards are more visible around a 
number of businesses along Louisville's rapidly developing waterfront, 
which is where the Center is located. 
 
    "It traumatized employees in the building," said Diaz.  "Particularly 
women employees." 

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