The Jackson County Prosecutor today filed charges against 23-year-old James D. Kemp in the sexual assault of a woman on the Trolley Trail in June and an attack on a woman at a car wash near the trail a week and a half ago. We released a composite sketch last week of a possible suspect.
Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker today praised the work of KCPD's detectives and Crime Lab personnel on identifying and apprehending this suspect, especially given that the Waldo-area neighborhood already had lost much of their sense of security in previous attacks by a different serial rapist in 2009 and 2010.
The suspect arrested today lived and worked in the Waldo area. DNA and fingerprints linked him to the two latest attacks. In each instance, he wore all black clothes and a black ski mask, threatened the victims with a knife, bound them with duct tape and told them to shut up or he would kill them.
According to the probable cause statement, Kemp initially denied any involvement in the attacks, but he then confessed to both of them when confronted with the DNA and fingerprint evidence.
Congratulations to the officers, detectives, crime scene investigators and crime lab analysts who got this dangerous man off the streets and increased the sense of security for those who use the popular Trolley Trail. James Kemp is being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond.
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