PALOS HILLS, IL—More details have emerged about the sexual assault charges against a 36-year-old Palos Hills man who is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a Michigan woman he met at a concert in April.
Timothy O’Connell is facing three felony counts of criminal sexual assault. He was placed on pretrial electronic monitoring following a pre-detention hearing last week at the Bridgeview Courthouse. The assault happened in Palos Hills, prosecutors say.
According to court documents, the woman and her boyfriend drove from Michigan to Chicago on April 19 to attend the Slaughter To Prevail concert the next day at the Aragon Ballroom on Chicago’s North Side.
The Michigan woman told police that she had 1.5 drinks. During the concert she noticed O’Connell with his two friends, identified as “Witness 2” and “Witness 3.” At one point during the show, the woman crowd-surfed and was separated from her boyfriend. The prosecutor said the woman and O’Connell struck up a conversation when he offered to buy her a drink. She took a few sips and claimed not to recall anything about the evening after she accepted the drink.
When it came time to leave, the woman, O’Connell and his friends left the concert together. Witness 3 drove them back to Witness 2’s condo in Palos Hills, the prosecutor said. O’Connell’s friends confirmed that O’Connell did not seem intoxicated. The friends also confirmed that the Michigan woman was "emotional and crying," according to prosecutors.
They arrived at Witness 2’s condo in Palos Hills. When the woman got out of the car, she stumbled and was dry heaving outside the car. As O’Connell and Witness 2 helped the woman into the residence, the prosecutor said she threw up in the entryway to the building as well as near the door to Witness 2’s condo.
Witness 2 recalled for investigators the woman going in and out of consciousness and being slumped over with her eyes closed periodically, and she was unable to walk independently, prosecutors said. Witness 2 laid the woman on the floor on her side and placed a bucket near her. He left the TV on and went into his room, where he played a podcast until he fell asleep. The prosecutor said O’Connell remained in the living room with the woman.
The next morning, April 21, the prosecutor said the woman woke up in a state of undress, with only her T-shirt and bra on. The woman felt woozy and disoriented. She did not recognize her surroundings, according to the court documents. The prosecutor said she saw someone lying on the couch but did not see the person’s face. The woman saw a phone on the coffee table and texted her boyfriend for help. She also ordered herself an Uber.
Once reunited with her boyfriend, the couple immediately drove back to Michigan, according to prosecutors. The woman went to a Michigan hospital where she was given a toxicology exam. The screen came back negative.
The next day, April 22, the woman consented to a sexual assault kit. The SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) noted a small wound above her anus. The woman had also sustained bruising to her buttocks and face, court documents said.
On May 22, the woman reported the alleged criminal sexual assault to her local police department in Michigan, which notified the Palos Hills Police Department. At some point, Cook County Sheriff’s Police took over the criminal investigation.
Security cameras at the Aragon Ballroom confirm the Michigan woman left with O’Connell and his friends. Additionally, video surveillance outside Witness 2’s condo building shows O’Connell carrying the woman into Witness 2’s home. The prosecutor said O’Connell later identified himself in a still image from his video.
During his interviews with investigators, prosectors say the Michigan woman’s boyfriend showed police a screenshot of the message his girlfriend sent of her location, showing the area on Spathis Drive in Palos Hills, the same area as Witness 2’s home. The phone number the woman texted from was also confirmed through a law enforcement database to be registered to O’Connell.
O’Connell was arrested last Tuesday on suspicion of criminal sexual assault. After being read his rights, O’Connell allegedly stated he did not remember if he and the woman had sex. The prosecutor said O’Connell later changed his story, admitting they had sexual intercourse on the couch and on the floor. The court document included explicit details about the alleged assault.
The prosecutor said O’Connell identified himself from a still of the video where he was shown carrying the woman into his friend's condo. He also stated she needed to be helped into his friend’s condo and was vomiting inside the house.
O’Connell is said to have denied knowing the Michigan woman’s name, but prosecutors say a Facebook search warrant showed O’Connell searched her name on Facebook at 7:59 a.m. April 21, the morning after the alleged assault. The prosecutor said O’Connell also admitted to deleting the Michigan woman’s text message to her boyfriend.
The court document said the Michigan woman positively identified O'Connell from a photo array.
Palos Hills police did not respond to an earlier email from Patch asking when it requested assistance from Cook County Sheriff's Police following Sheriff Tom Dart's announcement of the charges last week.
O'Connell is the son of Palos Hills Ald. Donna O'Connell.
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