Crime & Safety

Knife-Wielding Rapist Attacks Woman in Home: Cops

A convicted sex offender armed with a steak knife assaulted a woman on Joliet's far west side.

A knife-wielding rapist chased a woman up the stairs of her house and attacked her in a bedroom Thursday night, police said.

The convicted sex offender—Kenneth Williams, 33, of 1403 Cumberland Drive—abruptly broke off his assault when the woman told him she was pregnant, police said.

The woman is not pregnant, said Joliet police Cmdr. Brian Benton, but had been begging and pleading with Williams and "saying anything" she thought might make him stop.

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The pregnancy claim seemed to do the trick, as Williams reportedly took his knife away from the woman's throat and gave up his attack. Once he left, Benton said, the 27-year-old woman called the cops.

The woman reportedly told police she had seen her attacker around her far west side neighborhood and told officers which house she thought was his. A bloodhound led police to the same house, Benton said, but no one answered the door when the police came calling.

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Officers obtained a search warrant and broke down the door of the house, which is down the street from where the woman lives. They found Williams inside and he was taken into custody without incident.

Williams told officers he wanted to confess to attacking the woman but did not see how that would "help him in the long run," Benton said.

Williams, a registered sexual predator, also reportedly said he did not want to return to prison.

Williams was convicted of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teenager in Kane County in 2005.

Williams' registered address with the Illinois State Police is 2201 Spaulding Ave. in Dixmoor, but he apparently is not living there.

Benton said the woman Williams attacked knew someone was in her house due to an alarm indicating the front door had opened.

She assumed her husband, who had left moments before, was returning. Instead, Benton said, she saw the hulking, 6-foot-4, 295-pound Williams standing in the doorway with a steak knife.

Benton said Williams is also suspected of a similar attack in Joliet.

Williams was booked into the Will County jail on charges of home invasion and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault.


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