Police are still searching Duke Forest for evidence in connection with the Sept. 13 kidnapping and assault of three University employees.
Shortly after the crime took place, police recovered from the scene used duct tape, a roll of duct tape and a jar of Vaseline. Chief Robert Dean of Public Safety said that officers are continuing to search Duke Forest for any evidence that might be relevant to the case.
Police have also collected and submitted for DNA testing blood, saliva, hair and semen samples from the main suspect in the assault, Donald Clarke-Pearson, 19, of 105 Porter Place in Chapel Hill. Physical evidence has also been taken from the female victim, Dean said. Clarke-Pearson, a Medical Center employee, was arrested Sept. 13 and charged with three counts of kidnapping, three counts of armed robbery and one count of rape.
At the time of his arrest, Clarke-Pearson was positively identified by one of the victims as the attacker, Dean said.
The suspect's mother, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, said that the her son's arrest makes no sense to her.
"We know it is a case of mistaken identity that is making our son the fourth victim in this awful incident," she said in a statement Monday.
The assault began at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, as three University employees, two men and a woman, were accosted by man carrying a dark-colored automatic handgun in Duke Forest near Gate 26 on Whitfield Road, located approximately 10 to 12 miles from West Campus, Dean said.
After forcing the victims to walk out of view of the road, empty their pockets and lie on the ground, the assailant secured and gagged the three employees with duct tape. The attacker then raped the women and left the scene.
"It is unusual for two to three people to be victimized in this way," Dean said.
Once the assailant left, the victims managed to free themselves and one informed another civilian of the crime. That person then contacted the police and a description of the suspect was released to police officers via radio. According to a request for a search warrant later granted by the Orange County District Court, all of the victims said that the gunman was wearing a green shirt, brown or tan shorts and was carrying a green backpack.
Clarke-Pearson was seen entering a gold 1984 Toyota sedan parked on Wisteria Drive near another entrance to Duke Forest by an off-duty Orange County sheriff's deputy. Upon spotting the deputy, the suspect attempted to duck into his vehicle, alerting the deputy's suspicions, Dean said.
The off-duty deputy then heard the radio description and watched Clarke-Pearson until Public Safety officers responded to the scene and made the arrest at about 10 p.m. The search warrant request states that Clarke-Pearson was wearing a green shirt and tan shorts when he was arrested and that a green backpack was found on the front passenger seat of the Toyota.
Clarke-Pearson was released on $175,000 bond over the weekend, but has been placed under house arrest until his probable cause hearing scheduled for Oct. 20.
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