GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

SEPTEMBER 2, 1994

Two Canton lesbians raped in brutal hate crime

by Doreen Cudnik

and H. Paul Schwitzgebel

In the early morning hours of Thursday, August 25, two South Canton area lesbians were terrorized and brutally assaulted by an unknown attacker. The women were bound, raped and beaten for hours, and threats were made to harm one of the victims' sleeping child.

The crime appears to have been motivated by the fact that the women were lesbians. "There was a rainbow wind sock hanging on the porch, and a flag with a pink triangle on it in the back of the house," said Sally Wamsley, one of the victims. Whether or not that was the only way the attacker identified them as lesbians is unknown, but both victims said that it was apparent that he knew. Throughout the ordeal, the attacker made remarks such as, "I'm tired of all the lesbians moving into the southwest end of Canton," and he repeatedly made anti-lesbian remarks.

The ordeal began at about 2:00 am when the intruder broke into the home of one of the women. Sally Wamsley, a house guest asleep in another room, was suddenly awakened when the unknown man entered her room holding a knife to her friend's throat.

Both women were then blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs. The attacker took one woman into another room where he sexually assaulted her, and then returned to Wamsley's room where he violently raped her both anally and vaginally. No condom was used. Wamsley related that the assailant also threatened to enter her with the knife blade, at times pressing it dangerously close to her anus. The entire ordeal lasted more than four hours.

During the attack, the friend's 8-year-old daughter was asleep in another bedroom. "He had warned us that if we made any noise to wake her up, or if she woke up and came into the room, he would kill her in front of us." Wamsley said.

"My daughter is okay," the girl's mother said. "It was terrifying," she added, "because while he ordered us to remain silent, he made no attempt himself to keep quiet. Thank God that my daughter slept through the whole thing.".

After the rape, the attacker took Wamsley to the bathroom where he cleaned her up, in an apparent attempt to get rid of any evidence. She was then taken back into the bedroom where she was thrown on the floor, choked, and attempts were made to break bones in her arms and legs.

"I felt at that point that he more or less talked himself out of killing us," Wamsley recalled. "We were both then left on the floor, blindfolded, with our arms tied behind our backs." Before he left, the rapist said he

would come back and kill them if they told anyone about the attack.

The homeowner was the first to free herself after the attacker finally left. "She got loose and then came over and untied me," Wamsley said. The woman ran downstairs and called 911, and was forced to suffer further humiliation when the operator asked her, "Ma'am, are you really sure this happened?"

On the incident report given to the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Community Center, Wamsley described the Canton police department's overall response to the incident as "indifferent and hostile."

"When the police finally got there," Wamsley reported, "we got the impression that they did not really believe us.”

The other woman related, "I was less than impressed with the officers that came to take the report. They almost made me feel as if it was my fault."

People who were present during the investigation characterized the police as “uncaring, inappropriately focused on details like the serial numbers of stolen equipment, and difficult to deal with." There has been some complaint that the treatment was discriminatory even though none of the officers verbalized any hostility toward homosexuality.

The Canton police did not send in a canine unit, although they had been informed that the attacker had just left the house, and could still have been in the close vicinity. The home was dusted for fingerprints, and photographs were taken, both of the house and of the bruises on the women.

Wamsley was also told that she needed to get to a hospital right away, and then was prevented from doing so for about four hours while detectives questioned her.

Lisa Martin, education coordinator for the Rape Crisis Services of the Stark County Red Cross said, "If a victim wants medical attention, there should be no delay.” According to Martin, it is important that the victim be put in the context of supportive people who can provide not only security but also compassion. For health and for investigatory purposes, prompt medical treatment is advised in every case of rape.

Sergeant Les Baroni, the detective assigned to the case, said it is standard procedure to interview each victim separately when there are more than one victims in a crime. "If a case goes to trial, a good defense attorney will tear the evidence to shreds if there is the appearance that the victims collaborated on the story," he said. He declined to comment on what evidence was removed from the scene.

Wamsley tried on August 26 to help the police artist create a composite sketch. She was unable to do so since she did not get a

very long look at the assailant before being blindfolded. The other victim did not see him at all, but at one point got a look at the boots he was wearing, which she described as heavy, suede leather work boots.

Wamsley and her partner, Judy Byrd, who is the president of Stonewall Akron, put out flyers containing the assailants' descriptions and distributed them to area bars, gas stations, and businesses. Wamsley told the Chronicle that the attacker was not anyone that was known to either of the victims. "I'm planning this week to go out to the gay bars to see if I find anyone who resembles him." Wamsley said. They also plan to canvass Akron bars and distribute the flyers there.

The attacker is described as a white male in his midto late thirties, about 5'7" to 5'9" tall, with a beer belly and medium brown straight hair and moustache.

Neighbors near the crime scene say that the Canton police have been exceptionally responsive to suspicious-person reports in the area since the incident and the distribution of the flyers.

Detective Baroni said that there are no suspects at this time, but that the case is being actively pursued. Although the Canton police department has no official criteria to identify a crime as a hate crime, Baroni said that given the specific circumstances of this case, he was treating the situation as a hate crime.

"This was not a routine, random act of violence," he said. He added also that he did not believe this was the first time this particular individual committed a crime of this nature.

Both women said they were willing to talk to the Chronicle because by doing so, they might prevent this from happening to other women. Wamsley said, "I was the victim of childhood sexual assault, and it's taken me thirty years to talk about it...I'll be damned if I'm going to be quiet now."

If you have been a victim of a similar crime, or have any information regarding this case, please call the Canton police department detective bureau at 216/489-3141 or call Judy Byrd at 216/453-2609.

NGLTF director steps down

Continued from page 1

will begin working in the group's Washington office during the next few weeks to assist with fund-raising and other organizational duties.

In addition, the board will hire an interim chief operating officer to oversee day-to-day management of the organization, Collins said from Provincetown, Mass., where he was attending a board meeting.

Radecic denied that she was having trouble managing the 32,000-member organization, which has an annual budget of more than $3 million. The task force, which was founded in 1973, is one of the nation's largest gay lobbying and educational organizations.

"I started thinking about this about a month ago," she said, also from Provincetown. "And as I've been thinking about it, the things that I love most about my job are the public policy issues.'

She cited the task force's efforts this year to get the 1996 Olympics out of Cobb County, Ga., because of an anti-gay ordinance, and its work on behalf of two lesbians who have been harassed since they opened a women's retreat, Camp Sister Spirit, in Ovett, Miss.

Radecic said it was entirely her decision to step down as executive director.

"My best successes have been with public policy work," she said. "To offer my resignation and move back to public policy is a good thing."

Collins said the board has decided that the job is too large for one person.

But a source close to the organization, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the board came to the realization that Radecic could not handle the job.

"The bottom line was two or three months after she started, it became clear that she was just in over her head," the source said.

Radecic took over as executive director last November during another shake-up. She replaced Torie Osborn, who had quit after less than a year, saying she could not handle both the public organizing and day-to-day management of the group.

Radecic has come under fire in recent months for laying off pivotal staff members and informing workers that they might have to take five unpaid furlough days per month, in July, August and September, to alleviate financial problems.

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