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Last updated on Tuesday, September 20, 2016
(BLOOMINGTON) - DNA discovered on a bedroom door knob has linked a Solsberry man who was arrested last week for a rape and burglary in a Bloomington apartment on the north side of town to other sexual assaults on the south side of town.
Bloomington Police Capt. Steven Kellams says 28-year-old Devin E. Grounds is their primary suspect in four recent attacks where a masked man broke into the unlocked homes and bedrooms of women while they slept.
Police arrested Grounds last Thursday in connection with an attack during the early morning hours on Labor Day, September 5. Grounds is accused of raping a woman and also accused of burglarizing the Knights Landing apartments in the 2000 block of North Walnut Street.
Grounds is facing felony charges of burglary resulting in bodily injury, two counts of rape, and theft with a prior conviction.
A 24-year-old woman told investigators she was asleep and awoke to find a strange man standing over her bed. The woman told police that a man threatened to kill her if she didn't undress and roll over. He then tied her hands behind her back and raped her.
The woman told police the man took a cup of water from her nightstand, poured it on her after the assault, refilled the cup and poured water on her a second time before he untied her, stole her cellphone and fled the apartment.
Capt. Kellams says DNA collected from the cup and the woman's sexual assault examination was processed and then entered into the DNA Index System which alerted police that it was a match to Devin Grounds.
Grounds is a convicted felon and served time in prison, so his DNA is on file in the database.
"Detectives originally did not believe this crime was connected with a string of burglaries involving an unknown masked man on the southeast side of Bloomington. However, through extensive investigation, Devin Grounds has been identified as a possible suspect in those cases," Bloomington Police Department Capt. Steve Kellams stated in a news release.
On Monday, Detectives filed an additional felony burglary charge against Grounds for breaking into an apartment in the 400 block of East Melrose Avenue.
According to police, on September 8, a 22-year-old woman woke to find a male wearing a mask crouched next to her bed. The woman began screaming and the male fled. Grounds' DNA was recovered from a bedroom door knob.
Detectives are still investigating the other incidents reported in the early morning hours of September 5th and September 8th.
Bloomington police responded to three reports of burglaries by a masked man in the early morning hours of September 8. The first was reported at about 2:15 a.m. in the 500 of East Second Street, just south of Indiana University's campus.
A 20-year-old woman told police that she woke up to find a masked man standing over her bed. The man threatened to kill her if she did not take off her clothes, then he attempted to remove her clothing, she said. The woman screamed and fought back, causing the man to flee.
Less than three hours later, officers were called to the 1300 block of South Washington Street where a barking dog alerted a 33-year-old woman to a masked man standing outside her bedroom door. The man then fled.
In the early morning hours of Monday, September 5, police were called to the 1600 block of South Henderson Street. A 20-year-old woman told police she was sleeping on a friend's couch and awoke to find a masked man touching her leg. The man ordered her to take her clothes off, but she fought back pulling the mask off the the man's head. He grabbed it back and fled.
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