PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Kevin Bennett, the man accused of raping three Philadelphia women and trying to attack others, was identified as a prime rape suspect in Indianapolis a month before he came to the East Coast.
A new timeline of Bennett's history of alleged rapes has emerged, which leaves more questions about why he wasn’t arrested sooner.
According to the Marion County, Indiana, prosecutor’s affidavit, a woman was brutally raped inside her Indianapolis apartment building on April 2.
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The woman, who works at a strip club, told officers on scene that she got home and was speaking to her boyfriend on FaceTime, when someone texted her to say she had left her sweater in the car. The victim believed the phone number belonged to her friend.
She went downstairs to the front door, and then got a text from the same number saying "never mind."
At that moment, a man allegedly struck her over the head with his gun, and she became disoriented. Her boyfriend later told police he saw a man in the background before the phone call ended.
The victim told police he dragged her to the bathroom, where he violently raped her. She said, at times he yelled, "If you make a noise, I’ll kill you."
At one point, Bennett is alleged to have held the woman at gunpoint and forced her to call her boyfriend back to say everything was fine and then hang up.
Police say the suspect used a condom during the rape. Crime scene investigators would later take the wrapper for evidence.
When police arrived, she was bleeding from her head. She wasn’t wearing shoes, and she was obviously distraught. She said a man who was short in stature, wearing a blue mask and black hoodie, attacked her, and he was armed with a small silver revolver.
Indianapolis police searched the building and ended up arresting a man, whom KYW Newsradio is naming J.J.
Police said had a small black pistol on him at the time, not a silver revolver, but her fit the description of the suspect. They arrested him, and he was charged with rape and aggravated assault.
In the affidavit, 10 days later, detectives went back to the property to gather surveillance video, which shows the suspect entering and leaving the building, and putting gloves on before the attack.
"Based on the surveillance, there was no way [J.J.] could be the attacker, because the perpetrator never re-enters the building," the affidavit said. Realizing their mistake, authorities dropped charges against J.J.
A week later, on April 19, investigators got a match for a fingerprint left on the condom wrapper. They identified their suspect as Kevin Bennett.
It was another month before the rapes happened in the Philadelphia area.
Just a few days later, on April 22, a detective with the FBI in Nashville called Indianapolis police. She told police she had been working with "several law enforcement agencies in the southern region" about the rapes and robberies of female exotic dancers.
That’s when Indianapolis police told the FBI about the fingerprint match to Bennett.
The FBI detective shared that a dancer in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, had been raped. Through surveillance video, officers saw a red Cadillac leaving the scene and "the plates on the Cadillac came back to Kevin Bennett," according to the affidavit.
But still, no one in Indianapolis or anywhere else had identified Bennett as a wanted serial rapist.
For three weeks, Bennett’s whereabouts were unknown.
KYW Newsradio has reached out to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to learn more about what they did during this time to try to find Bennett.
In reply, they sent a statement: "Since April, we have worked with our local and federal partners in regards to this case. We are glad that Mr. Bennett has been taken into custody. As far as the investigative specifics, the investigation is still ongoing and can not comment further."
They did not answer direct questions from KYW Newsradio.
The first rape in Philadelphia occurred in the early morning of Sunday, May 16. The suspect took a woman sitting in her car along 11th Street in North Philadelphia to a back alley, where he raped and robbed her, according to police.
Philadelphia police say this violent attack happened after the suspect followed home two other women: one to Media in Delaware County, and another to East Norriton in Montgomery County.
On Monday, May 17, around 9:30 p.m., the suspect allegedly followed another woman to a parking garage along Hamilton Street in Philadelphia near 15th Street, but the woman was able to get away.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 18, the suspect is alleged to have attempted breaking into a woman's apartment complex. Later, detectives say, the suspect followed a pair of dancers, who work and live together, home after work that night.
Police said he came back and pretended to be an electrical worker there to check on the lights. That’s when he allegedly raped and robbed the two women.
Upper Merion police say, the following day they believe Bennett tried to strike again, when he followed another woman to the Crowne Plaza in King of Prussia, where she was staying.
The victim was working out in the gym around 3 p.m., when the man tried to get into the gym. When he couldn't, the woman let him in. That’s when he allegedly struck her over the head with his gun, and eventually left through the front door of the hotel.
Philadelphia detectives, seeing a pattern in the rapes, held a press conference with videos and pictures, and they identified Bennett.
Federal authorities arrested their suspect in a shopping center on May 22, a week after he first struck in Philadelphia.
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Investigators say two handguns and methamphetamine were found inside his car. They say also say he was wearing a diamond-and-gold tennis bracelet stolen from a jewelry store in Mississippi.
Bennett is now charged with federal gun and drug charges. The Marion County prosecutor has now also charged Bennett with rape in the April 2 attack.
He was scheduled for an extradition hearing to be brought back to Philadelphia, but that was cancelled Tuesday afternoon after federal officials brought charges.
At this point, it seems Bennett will face federal charges first, before any of the rape victims get their day in court.