New DNA evidence linked Robert Walters, 43, to the 2013 crime. View Full Caption DNAinfo; Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Authorities say they've used DNA to solve a 2013 rape where a disoriented woman trying to hail a cab outside a River North nightclub was instead taken into a car by a stranger and assaulted.

Robert Walters, 43, is accused of dragging the then-21-year-old woman into his Lakeview apartment and raping her. He was charged this week with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated criminal sexual assault after the new DNA evidence linked him to the crime, prosecutors said.

"This was a vicious and violent attack," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said Tuesday before setting bail at $5 million.

The victim spent an evening drinking with friends before eventually winding up at River North's now-shuttered Castle nightclub, 632 N. Dearborn St., on April 14, 2013, prosecutors said.

The woman became "very intoxicated and disoriented," lost sight of her friends and soon headed outside to find a cab, Assistant State's Attorney Holly Grosshans said during a bond hearing Tuesday.

Outside, the victim fell to the ground, cut her knee and began bleeding, prosecutors said.

It was then that Walters walked over and offered to give the woman a ride, according to Grosshans.

The victim initially refused, but Walters was persistent, prosecutors noted. He picked up the woman, who could barely stand, and placed her in his car. She drifted in and out of consciousness, and eventually awoke outside an apartment building she didn't recognize, Grosshans said.

Walters said he was "making a pit stop," according to Grosshans, and the victim refused to leave the car. Walters then dragged the woman into his apartment and up a flight of stairs to a bedroom loft — spraining her ankle in the process, prosecutors said.

Walters is accused of raping the victim — who blacked out for parts of the attack — before taking her cellphone and using it to call himself to obtain to the victim's number.

Walters would later text the victim, explaining to her how she got her injuries, Grosshans said.

Walters finally did drive the woman home, where she told her roommate what happened, prosecutors said. A rape kit was immediately collected at a local hospital. In April of this year, a state laboratory was able to match DNA from the kit to Walters' DNA.

He was arrested at his home in the 600 block of West Diversey Parkway about 12:15 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report.

That same report states there were two rape victims that April 2013 evening: the 21-year-old mentioned here and a 26-year-old woman. Prosecutors in court Tuesday only mentioned one victim, and Walters has only been charged with raping and kidnapping one woman.

He was previously convicted of burglary in 1996.

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