McCORDSVILLE — A man law enforcement officials describe as a violent sexual predator has been arrested and charged with raping two elderly women living in retirement communities, including one last June in McCordsville.
Samuel L. Patterson, 56, of the 7400 block of West Washington Street in Indianapolis, has been in the Marion County jail since February after being charged with raping a 77-year-old woman in Lawrence.
This week, forensic evidence linked him to a similar attack involving a 91-year-old victim in McCordsville. That rape occurred last June 27. The Lawrence attack was on Sept. 26.
Coordinated efforts by officials from the McCordsville and Lawrence police departments helped lead to Patterson’s identification and arrest in February.
Patterson was officially charged Monday in Hancock County for the McCordsville attack. He faces two Level 1 felony counts of rape by force; and a Level 1 felony charge of burglary with serious bodily.
The incident happened shortly after midnight June 27 at a home in the Traditions at Brookside assisted living community. The campus is near Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 900N; the attack occurred in an independent residential home on the property, police said in a report.
The 91-year-old victim told police she went to bed around midnight and woke up to a strange noise, she said in a police report. The next thing she knew, someone put a pillowcase over her head and asked repeatedly where her money was, she said. The woman told police she tried to reach for her medical alert necklace during the attack, but the man stopped her and threatened to kill her if she tried again. He then raped her, she told police.
Paul Casey, interim chief of the McCordsville Police Department, said the attack appeared to be random, and investigators believe Patterson entered the victim’s home through an unlocked front door.
“It’s so sad that something like this happened in our society.” Casey said. “It’s really hard to describe.”
In the second attack, in September, Patterson is accused of raping a 77-year-old woman living in an independent home on the campus of Westminster Village North, an assisted living community at 63rd Street and Sunnyside Road in Lawrence.
That victim told police she saw a man crawl through her kitchen window. He then assaulted her and demanded cash and took her cell phone, she told police, according to the report.
Patterson faces eight charges, including rape, burglary, criminal confinement and kidnapping, in connection with the second attack, records show.
Following the second attack, officials in McCordsville and Lawrence knew they had two similar cases and began a coordinated effort to catch the suspect.
“They had some leads in their case and we had one lead in our case, but were unable to locate the person, but then it all came crashing together,” Casey said.
The investigation accelerated in November, when McCordsville officials told Lawrence police they had run a license plate check on a vehicle parked on North White Tail Trail in McCordsville, less than 200 feet from where the first attack occurred.
Patterson, who has an extensive criminal record and who is registered as a sexually violent predator in Marion County, was one of the people named on the car registration, the report said. Police observed Patterson, noting that he roughly fit the description of the attacker in both rapes.
Detectives contacted Indiana Division of Parole Services and were informed Patterson was not supposed to be at the address where the car was parked because he had been told he couldn’t live there with his girlfriend, who was a former employee of the correctional facility at which he had been incarcerated, the report said.
Police also learned Patterson had been convicted of rape in 1998 in LaPorte County after attacking a 79-year-old woman. He was released from prison on Feb. 25, 2017, parole officials said.
Data from Patterson’s cell phone show it was used the day before the McCordsville attack at a cell tower near the scene of the rape.
DNA results identified Patterson first as the perpetrator in the second rape, the report said. He was arrested and charged in February in Marion County, where he remains pending trial.
Lawrence Deputy Chief Gary Woodruff said the lines of communications between McCordsville and Lawrence police departments contributed greatly to arresting the suspect.
“Crimes do not know jurisdictional boundaries,” Woodruff said.
In March, McCordsville officials authorized DNA testing on evidence taken from the scene of the McCordsville assault. The results, which came back Monday, linked Patterson to the attack.
“The trace evidence was a big key in this case,” Casey said.
McCordsville officials said they worked closely with the Indiana State Police lab authorities to make sure they received all the evidence needed to complete the testing.
Prosecutor Brent Eaton isn’t sure when Hancock County officials will get their chance to prosecute Patterson, but he’s hoping it’s sooner rather than later.
“There was a lot of hard work that was done by the McCordsville Police Department on getting this one together,” Eaton said. “They’re not a large department, but they provided us with a good, solid case.”
Hancock County officials issued a warrant for Patterson Wednesday. However he is currently in the Marion County Jail, where he is being held under a $200,000 surety bond. A jury trial has been set for June 24.
Officials with the Traditions of Brookside released a state Thursday saying, “We are extremely grateful for the efforts of the McCordsville Police Department, and appreciative of their continual communication with our community. We have been inspired by our resident’s courage and strength, and thankful for our employees during, and after this incident.”
