Suspect charged in rape, abduction

Published 12:59 pm Tuesday, October 28, 2008

A 30-year-old Baker Street man has been arrested and charged in connection with the abduction and rape of a woman from in front of her apartment early this month.

Christopher Rashard Taylor is being held without bond at Western Tidewater Regional Jail. He has been charged with three counts of rape; one count of abduction with intent to defile; one count of armed robbery; one count of aggravated assault; one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony; one count of cutting, stabbing or wounding in the commission of a felony; and one count of carjacking.

Suffolk spokeswoman Debbie George said in a press release Tuesday that DNA evidence left at the scene led police to Taylor. He was arrested at home Monday afternoon without incident, she said.

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Police said the victim was abducted a gunpoint as she returned to her Forest Oak Lane apartment just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 10. She was then forced into her vehicle and taken into the woods, where she was sexually assaulted, according to the original report. Then she was tied to a tree and left by her assailant, who fled in her vehicle.

The victim was able to escape and make it to the street, where she flagged down a passing motorist on Old Dill Road. Police were notified at 4:22 p.m. that afternoon, and the victim was treated and released from Sentara Obici Hospital.

After putting out a citywide call for help, police found the victim’s vehicle abandoned on Adams Street two days later.

Detective John McCarley is the lead investigator in the case.