LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville police have arrested a man for a sexual assault in Pleasure Ridge Park.
Christopher Thompson, 22, is accused of sodomy and robbery. It's just one case in a string of several that happened near the end of last summer.
Thompson was previously charged with having restricted ammo, a stolen firearm, and fleeing police on Feb. 7, 2023. A diversion program let him stay out of jail, and he was sentenced to two years of probation.
"Sometimes the most rewarding part of our job is calling the victim and letting them know that this person's now behind bars and they can sleep well at night," Det. Eric Goldschmidt said.
He made one of those calls on Tuesday for Thompson's arrest, which the department said was reported on July 23, 2023. It happened just after midnight when a woman came home from a night out with her friends.
"And while she was sitting in her car, the suspect approached the vehicle, pointed a gun at her, and demanded that she move over into the passenger seat," Goldschmidt said.
According to police, he drove the woman to an ATM, sexually assaulted her, then forced her to withdraw money before assaulting her again.
After news outlets alerted PRP and Valley Station residents to the danger, the assaults stopped. Although Thompson is only charged in this one case, it matches a pattern seen in six others in the area. Three of them happened on the same block on Yazoo Street.
Goldschmidt credits DNA evidence as the primary reason they broke the case.
Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) uses a third-party lab ran by a private company for testing, costing the city $1.9 million dollars a year. This way, they get results back between six and 13 weeks.
A spokesperson for LMPD said they would ask Metro Council for more money to continue private testing.
If they used Kentucky state labs to analyze the DNA, Sgt. Shane Stewart said even in a best-case scenario they might still be waiting for the results instead of having an arrest.
"At the quickest, we might've gotten a rapid kit back in five to six months. Generally looking at 12 to 18 months," Stewart said.
Goldschmidt said the technology's advanced enough for even a small touch to give them the DNA they need to identify someone, but that preserving it and reporting the crime immediately is important.
"The victim's body is a crime scene as well," he said. "Especially nowadays that we have this great tool for collecting DNA evidence."
Since these are difficult situations, LMPD offers help through their Victims Support Unit when these crimes happen so they can investigate with care.
The department recommends reporting them immediately when they occur, and preserving any DNA evidence by avoiding showers.
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