Two lesbians helped catch a rape suspect in Ocean Beach after they heard the victim screaming next door to where they were pet sitting and chased him for a distance until police arrested him.
Hali Moore identified Richard Christopher Butts, 26, as the man who ran away from a woman who screamed she had been sexually assaulted March 24. The victim had been dragged 80 feet from a sidewalk on Long Branch Avenue around 10:15 p.m. to a dark area beside a house.
The arrest was significant because DNA evidence recovered from the victim matched DNA evidence in an unsolved rape in August 2012, also in Ocean Beach. Butts is now charged with sexually assaulting both women who were attacked just blocks from where he lived at the time.
Moore posted her account of what happened on her Facebook page along with a photo of the suspect. She urged women to avoid walking alone at night.
Moore told San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill she and her partner were at a client’s house and heard the victim screaming. She said they both ran outside and saw a man running toward Cable Street.
Moore said both of them chased him to Abbott Street and also called 911. She said the dispatcher told her to stop chasing him because it was dangerous and police officers would catch him. Officers arrested Butts at Robb Field.
Moore testified she ran back to the victim whom she described as terrified. “She was shaking. She was hurt,” said Moore during the preliminary hearing Aug. 16.
Moore’s identification of Butts as the attacker is critical because the victim said it was too dark and she could not see his face. She said she screamed, but her attacker put his hand over her mouth and she had trouble breathing. She stopped screaming, but resumed after most of her clothing was removed.
Deputy District Attorney Wendy Patrick did not call Moore’s partner as a witness, but she could testify at his trial, which has been set for Dec. 13.
Butts has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts that include kidnapping both women with intent to commit rape and oral copulation. The charges carry life terms in prison if he is convicted.
He is also accused of forcible oral copulation, rape and two counts of assault with intent to commit oral copulation. Butts remains in jail on $1.5 million bail.
“I saw a man with a hoodie running toward me,” said the victim. “By the time I started to run for it, he grabbed me.”
The victim said her attacker had his hand around her neck, causing her to not breathe well. “I began to fear for my life. I was afraid if I kept struggling I would die,” she said. She said she told him, “If you let me go, I’ll be quiet.” She said he orally copulated her, and he ran off after she yelled rape.
San Diego Police Detective James Hunter testified he detained Butts and the suspect admitted he orally copulated the victim. Hunter said Butts did this in order to “sexually arouse her.”
Butts’ DNA was found from his saliva in the incident, and it matched DNA in his semen that was obtained in the earlier rape, according to testimony from crime lab personnel.
