Springfield man accused of randomly raping 18-year-old in pedestrian tunnel in March

Giacomo Bologna | Springfield News-Leader

A Springfield man was arrested and charged this week in connection with an alleged random rape in a pedestrian tunnel that took place several months ago.

Police had identified 32-year-old Josh Graham as a suspect early on in their investigation.

They linked Graham to the crime, in part, through a shoe print left at the scene, court documents say.

When a detective confronted Graham about the incident, Graham allegedly laughed quietly and responded: "That's very weird."

An 18-year-old woman told police she was walking through a pedestrian tunnel during the day of March 29 when an unfamiliar man approached and raped her.

The secluded tunnel, about 100 feet long, runs underneath the railroad tracks just north of Commercial Street along Washington Avenue.

The News-Leader first reported on the alleged rape in May after reviewing a search warrant related to the investigation.

According to the warrant, the man — later identified as Graham — acted alone. He allegedly pushed the woman against a concrete wall of the tunnel.

She screamed, but police say he covered her mouth with his hands.

According to police, the man turned the woman to face the wall, reached up her shirt and fondled her breast.

He pulled down her pants and digitally penetrated the woman, police say, then he made her bend over and raped her.

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She begged him to stop, police say, but he didn't.

"If you be quiet and let it happen, I will let you go," the man allegedly said in a soft voice.

After the sexual assault, police say the man used his cellphone to take a picture of the woman's ID card.

He allegedly said that if she told anyone, he would find her and retaliate.

According to the warrant, the woman quickly called 911 after the rape and gave a detailed description of the man: black or mixed race, 6 feet tall, 30-40 years old, short hair, wearing black or gray sweatpants, a dark long-sleeved sweatshirt and worn-out tennis shoes.

The woman didn't think he was homeless, police say, because he smelled clean and his fingernails were trimmed.

Police arrived on the scene and were able to photograph wet shoe prints that had a distinct pattern of rectangles and circles, the warrant said.

According to the warrant, police identified Graham as a suspect because he matched several points of the woman's description and lived five blocks away.

Also, police say Graham was on parole for a forcible sexual assault he committed in 2003 that had similar circumstances to the March 29 incident.

Graham would have been either 16 or 17 at the time of the 2003 sexual assault.

According to court documents filed by prosecutors, Graham waited in the unlocked apartment of a neighbor he did not know.

He threw a blanket over her head when she returned home, court documents say, then wrestled her to the ground and raped her.

The warrant said Graham was released from prison in July 2017.

According to the warrant, Graham's parole officer confirmed to police that the suspect often wore sweatpants and old tennis shoes and is generally clean in appearance.

The parole officer also said the Graham is unstable.

The warrant said Graham has been the subject of two police reports since being released from prison.

A month after Graham's release, a woman told police she found his wallet underneath a bedroom window of her home, the warrant said.

A few months after that, Graham was investigated for allegedly masturbating in his car in view of a woman at a Springfield Walmart.

Graham had been given a GPS ankle monitor following the Walmart incident, the warrant said, but his parole officer took him off GPS monitoring about two weeks before the rape took place.

Days after the rape, the suspect came to a regular meeting with his parole officer, the warrant said.

Unbeknownst to the suspect, detectives were out of sight in a nearby cubicle, listening.

They say they heard a soft voice.

The parole officer was able to sneak a look at the suspect's worn-out tennis shoes, which had a distinct pattern of rectangles and circles, according to the warrant.

The parole officer did not tip the suspect to any investigation, the warrant said, but she told him she was putting him back on GPS monitoring for a minor violation.

Initially, the ankle monitor apparently did not show anything suspicious.

A week passed.

Then, according to the ankle monitor, Graham began making almost daily trips to the area around the pedestrian tunnel along Washington Avenue.

Sometimes, Graham drove through the area, the warrant said, and sometimes he would park his car nearby and walk in the area.

Police used the search warrant to seize potential evidence from Graham's home and car.

The warrant said they took clothes, a wallet, pieces of mail, a flash drive and memory cards from Graham's home and a pair of shoes, a cellphone and a condom from his car.

Lt. Culley Wilson said there weren't a lot of leads to go on when the rape was reported, but the department's special victim's unit immediately took a hard look at the case.

"We're very pleased to get this guy off the street," Wilson said.

Wilson also praised the victim in the case, saying "it takes some guts and bravery" to make a report and be interviewed about a sexual assault.

“It’s not easy for a victim to have to come in and tell their story again,” Wilson said. “It’s all about bringing justice to our victim so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

While investigating Graham, court documents say police conducted surveillance on him.

At one point, a detective watched Graham try to approach another woman on Commercial Street, but she walked away while he attempted to talk to her.

Graham is currently being held in the Greene County Jail on $500,000 bond on rape and sodomy charges, records show.

The pedestrian tunnel where police say the rape occurred is one of a few locations where people can walk past the railroad tracks that run along the north side of the downtown Commercial Street area.

Two blocks away is the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge, which connects Commercial Street to Chase Street.

The footbridge — constructed in 1902 — has been closed since 2016 after an inspection revealed corrosion and steel loss.

Renovations could cost a few million dollars.

City Council recently voted to start the process of seeking bids for fixing the bridge and making it wheelchair-accessible.

The location of the alleged rape is also less than a mile away from where another sexual assault reportedly originated.

Police said a woman was walking near the intersection of Commercial Street and Grant Avenue in April 2017 when three men forced her into the back of a car and she was raped.

Police say DNA evidence linked Robbie Ray Robinson to that incident. Robinson is currently serving time in federal prison on a gun charge.