The first accusers claimed Alec Cook held her in a ‘death grip’ at his apartment, as dozens of other women have come forward since initial reports, police said

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A University of Wisconsin student has been charged with a string of sexual assaults involving four different women. Alec Cook, 20, has been the subject of reports from dozens of women, according to police, since the first woman raised the alarm bell.

Cook appeared in court in Madison on Thursday afternoon to face 11 charges of sexual assault, two counts of strangulation and two counts of false imprisonment.

He was first charged last week with sexually assaulting a fellow student in his apartment off campus after inviting her to come home with him following a study session in the university library.

She told police that at his apartment the two began kissing but that he then became more forceful despite her demands that he stop, and he repeatedly assaulted her and prevented her from leaving. After she was able leave she texted her brother to say Cook had held her in “a death grip”.

She reported the incident, which occurred earlier in October, to the Madison police department four days later and Cook was arrested.

When the incident was reported on the news, a second woman contacted police to say that she had been sexually assaulted by the man in February. Cook turned himself in last Thursday night and was re-arrested and held in Dane County jail in Madison.

A third woman came forward last Friday to say she had been assaulted by Cook in 2015. All three of the women were 20. Then a fourth woman contacted the authorities to report that she, too, was an alleged victim of the same man.

Cook has been suspended from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dean of students Lori Berquam said and the university has been assisting in the investigation.

Since the first four complainant’s allegations, the police said dozens of other women have reported their encounters with Cook.

When investigators searched his apartment they found a notebook detailing the grooming and stalking of women, Dane County assistant district attorney Collette Sampson said in an earlier report.

It listed the interests of the women that Cook was pursuing, what he would do with them and one column was marked “kill”, Sampson reported.

The complaint prosecutors filed on Thursday accused Cook of assaults dating back to March 2015. In addition to the woman who reported she was held captive at Cook’s apartment earlier this month, the complaint said another of the women was assaulted during ballroom dancing classes she attended with Cook this past spring, one was assaulted at a party and one alleged victim had met him at class.

Cook made no statement at Thursday afternoon’s hearing. Cook’s attorneys deny all the allegations.

After the hearing, his lawyers Jessa Nicholson and Chris Van Wagner said they believe the ballroom dancing class assaults never happened and that the other encounters were consensual.

Van Wagner said Cook has been vilified on social media but the prosecution’s case is “just dust”.

“He’s been painted as the face of evil. That’s wrong,” said Van Wagner.

The second victim to come forward told police she had been emboldened when she heard the initial report that someone had spoken out about Cook’s alleged conduct.

“We have developed probable cause based on statements from the four victims ... Our detectives believe the victims to be credible,” Madison police department public information officer Joel DeSpain told the Guardian.

“We continue to urge other women to come forward if they have had contact with Cook or have witnessed something. Our detectives have already talked to a wide array of people about these cases,” he said.

DeSpain acknowledged that victims of sexual assault are sometimes reluctant to come forward but that the police had been greatly assisted by the first victim who reported to them in this case early last week.

“It provided the incentive to others to feel that they could now speak. Without the first victim I’m not sure we would have known about the others,” DeSpain said.

University of Wisconsin-Madison spokeswoman Meredith McGlone said that a 911 call by a student who has been the victim of a crime is fielded by the city police department if the student is off campus and by UW-Madison police department if the student is on campus.

The university also has its own services to handle reports of sexual assault.

“It’s up to the student to decide who they want to report to. We make them aware of all the options,” she said.

McGlone said there is a mandatory program for new students, called Tonight, that deals with the prevention of sexual violence and, from fall 2016, the program included a second, in-person education session for all first-year and transfer students, as well as an initial online program.

How universities deal with sexual assault has been a contentious issue in recent years.

A survey published by the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2015 concluded that one in four US women have been subjected to unwanted sexual conduct at college.

UW-Madison conducted a survey of its students in 2015 as part of the AAU research.

The university pointed out that fewer than half of AAU’s members chose to take part but that UW-Madison was one of the 26 that did.

“Sexual assault affects the health and wellbeing of our entire community,” the university concluded.

At UW-Madison, 27.6% of female undergraduates reported experiencing sexual assault, the report said.