Rape case update and suspect photo
 |
| Donald Doc Vaughan (Police booking photo) |
Baltimore police arrested Donald Vaughan of Kilmarnock after the victim identified him from a photo. City police said the suspect knocked on the victim’s door on Saturday during the snowstorm and offered to shovel her walkway. Later that day, he returned and forced his way into her house through a side door and sexually assaulted her holding a kitchen knife to her throat. He cut her throat before leaving and taking a cell phone, $200 in cash and credit cards.
The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where she underwent surgery and was released, police said.
Baltimore police were able to track Vaughan to where he was staying through the cell phone he stole from the victim.
Vaughan was a suspect in two sexual assaults that occurred in Kilmarnock on November 28 and December 1. Neither victim was able to give police detailed descriptions of their assailant because he attacked them in the dark.
Lancaster sheriff’s department chief investigator Lt. Tim Self said Lancaster deputies and Kilmarnock police interviewed Vaughan several times and had him under surveillance for the past two weeks while they waited for forensic evidence to be processed. He was on parole for another offense and his parole officer allowed him to go to Baltimore last Wednesday for the Christmas holiday. A Baltimore parole officer was notified of his visit, Self said.
Lt. Self noted Vaughan is originally from Baltimore but recently moved to Lancaster County to live with his mother.
Kilmarnock Police Chief Mike Bedell and investigators Joanie Kent and Bobby Moore went to Maryland Monday to question Vaughan. Bedell said he confessed to both Kilmarnock incidents.
“He became a suspect within a couple of days of the second incident and has been under surveillance ever since,” Chief Bedell reported. “He was found walking on the streets at 4:45 a.m. December 2 and was stopped and interviewed. We watched him and a couple of other suspects to make sure we had no other attacks before we could obtain the DNA results from the lab or get a confession. We hope to get the lab results by Wednesday.”
Vaughan will be charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering as well as rape and forcible sodomy, Chief Bedell said. He credited the cooperative efforts of the Lancaster sheriff’s department and Kilmarnock police for tracking him down so quickly.
“With the teamwork of White Stone Police Chief Bill Webb and deputies from Essex, Middlesex, Northumberland and Richmond counties, we saturated the town,” he said.
Vaughan is being held in Baltimore without bail. Chief Bedell said he will seek his extradition to stand trial in Virginia.
Lancaster investigators and Kilmarnock police executed a search warrant at the Fleets Bay Road home of Shirley Cox Forrester on Tuesday looking for evidence related to charges against her son, Donald Vaughan, in two sexual assaults.
 |
| Police searched a local residence Tuesday looking for evidence that could connect Donald Vaughan to the sexual assaults of two Kilmarnock women. |
According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, Vaughan tried to commit suicide in his jail cell Monday night after making the confessions. An official in the prosecutor’s office verified a medical examination was ordered for suicide risk.
Also, the Sun reported court officials in arguing against bail said Vaughan had no adult criminal convictions but was on juvenile supervision for four separate incidents of breaking and entering and burglaries committed before the age of 18.
One of the burglaries occurred a block away from the place of Saturday’s attack. Vaughan was arrested at his sister’s house some 12 blocks from the third victim. Police tracked him through cell phones he allegedly stole from the victim.
On September 25, Vaughan joined his mother in Virginia with the permission of his parole officer who transferred his supervision to Lancaster County, according to local officials.
The day after the second attack in Kilmarnock, Vaughan was stopped and questioned by police as he walked on the street at 4:30 a.m., said Beddell. However, without knowledge of his court-sealed juvenile record in Maryland and based on an alibi provided by his mother, police released him.
Neither Kilmarnock victim was able to give a description of their attacker because the attacks occurred before dawn, said Bedell. Law enforcement in the surrounding counties assisted town police in saturating the area with coverage, keeping Vaughan and other suspects under surveillance while a lab processed DNA evidence from the crime scenes. Results are expected before the end of the year.
Bedell said Baltimore authorities were notified that Vaughan was a suspect and that he was returning to Maryland for the holidays.
