Chicago — Nearly five years after an 18-year-old woman was brutally beaten and raped after leaving the Chicago Blue Line station, her attacker is going to prison.
Rufus Carson, 42, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault before Judge Sophia Atcherson last Friday. She sentenced him to seven years on each count, to be served consecutively.
Prosecutors said CTA video showed Carson hurrying along the platform to catch up with the woman as she exited the station on the morning of August 27, 2018.
Carson continued to follow the woman and eventually attacked her from behind in the 1200 block of West Ohio. Video allegedly showed her putting a hand over the woman’s face before he dragged her into a construction area.
There, Carson raped the woman and beat her so violently that she suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury, prosecutors alleged. A construction worker found her about an hour after the attack.
Prosecutors said a security system recorded audio of the attack, in which Carson allegedly slammed the woman’s head against concrete as she screamed for several minutes. At one point, Carson stepped out of the construction area, then returned to attack the woman again.
Block Club Chicago reported in 2019 that the woman spent months in rehab, learning how to walk and talk again.
Chicago police released surveillance images of a suspect later that day and arrested Carson within three hours.
Carson initially rejected a plea deal three years ago, a decision that could have forced the victim, who lives in Poland, to return to Chicago for trial.
At the time of the attack, Carson was on bond for a pending case in McHenry County that accused him of exposing his penis to his girlfriend’s young daughter. He had five previous felony convictions for burglary, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, and narcotics.
He has not been transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections custody as of Saturday evening, so his anticipated parole date is unavailable.
