UPDATED: Suspect in downtown Pensacola rape and kidnapping arrested

Emma Kennedy | Pensacola News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Video surveillance of rape suspect abducting unconscious woman Pensacola police are searching for a man believed to have abducted an unconscious woman in downtown Pensacola.

A man with a history of contact with police over what authorities call suspicious sexual encounters has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman from downtown Pensacola and raping her.

Corey Antwone Hill, 35, was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning in connection to the assault Monday morning.

Pensacola Police Department spokesman Mike Wood said Hill followed the victim — who was out with a male friend — to several Palafox Street bars between about midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, at one point even moving his vehicle closer to where the pair was.

At some point, the woman began losing consciousness so Hill offered to care for the victim and give her water as her friend went to get his car to take her home, according to Wood. Hill then allegedly used that time to hoist the woman over his shoulder, and quickly took her to the Baylen Street parking garage where he had parked his vehicle.

PPD released surveillance video Tuesday night of the parking garage, where the suspect can be seen walking to his car carrying the victim and then driving out of the garage. Within hours, PPD had received several tips, and by 1 a.m. they had located and arrested Hill at a home in the 500 block of DeVilliers Street.

Hill's arrest report says the woman woke up in a strange car at about 5:45 a.m. Monday, and a black man she didn't know was in the driver's seat. She said she begged the man to take her back to her vehicle and he did. The victim said she doesn't remember driving herself home, but said she was woken up at about 10:30 a.m. when her parents came to check on her since she hadn't been to work.

The woman said she started having flashbacks the next morning and vaguely remembered an assault near a vehicle.

Wood said Hill has had prior encounters with police, including an incident in 2016 when a massage parlor employee was frightened by Hill’s alleged urging for a sexual encounter, and again in 2017 when he reportedly waited in a wooded area near Summit Boulevard and accosted female runners.

There wasn’t enough evidence to charge him in either case.

Wood said police are still constructing a timeline and location of the attack, and what caused the victim to black out.

“We couldn’t determine and still don’t know for sure if that was from alcohol or drugs or a health condition, we just don’t know yet,” Wood said during a press conference Wednesday morning.

Hill is being held at the Escambia County Jail on a $165,000 bond.

Police are still seeking information from anyone who may have encountered the suspect or victim at downtown bars that night. Anyone with information about what happened or the suspect should contact Crime Stoppers at 850-433-STOP or PPD at 850-435-1901.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.