DNA testing has led to an arrest involving an attack on woman in Texarkana, Ark., last October.
Lepeter McDole, 34, is currently being held in the Miller County jail with bond set at $250,000 in an alleged sexual assault on a woman who was walking Oct. 21 near Ed Worrell park in Texarkana. According to a probable cause affidavit, the woman was walking at about 11:30 a.m. when she was approached by a man on the walking trail.
The woman reported to Texarkana, Arkansas, Police Department detectives that he asked her for a cigarette. The woman said she told the man she didn’t have a cigarette and walked past him.
When close to a wooded area midway between the park and E. 24th Street, the woman reported she was grabbed from behind. The attacker put a rag over her mouth and pulled her behind some trees where she was forced to the ground. The woman reported she was hit in the back and stomach area and held down by her neck while the attacker raped her.
The suspect used a headband to cover the woman eyes. The woman reported her attacker smelled like beer and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. She reported that the man threatened to “kill her family if she told anyone.” The man took the rag and headband with him after the sexual assault.
TAPD detectives received a report May 6 from the Arkansas State Crime Lab informing them that a DNA profile collected following the woman’s report in October was allegedly a match for McDole.
If found guilty of rape, McDole faces 10 to 40 years or life in prison.
