Blue Island Man Handcuffed, Sexually Assaulted Woman For 3 Days: COPS

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story wrongly attributed the Cook County assistant state's attorney's name, Danny Hanichak, as the defendant's "aka" ("also known as") pseudonym. We apologize to our readers and to Mr. Hanichak.

CHICAGO — A Blue Island man accused of holding a homeless woman captive for three days and sexually assaulting her in an abandoned home was denied bail. Joel Cammon, 44, appeared Wednesday in the Leighton Criminal Courts building on charges of aggravated kidnapping/inflicting harm and aggravated criminal sexual assault.

Prosecutors said during the evening of May 21, a sports coach who runs a non-profit organization was walking to the bus stop when he heard noises coming from an abandoned home in the 11900 block of South Eggleston Avenue in West Pullman. The coach heard banging and a person yelling for help. He immediately called police and waited for them to arrive.

When officers arrived, they entered the house and found the 36-year-old woman, who is homeless, chained to a wall and handcuffed in the upstairs attic. The chain was attached to her ankle and both hands were cuffed together. Officers used bolt cutters to free the woman, who was taken to OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park.

The woman told police she had been held captive in the house since May 18. Three days before, she had run into Cammon, on the street. Prosecutors said Cammon worked as a “quasi-security guard” at a nearby store. The two were apparently acquainted from past occasions when she would have sex with Cammon for money, prosecutors said. They agreed to meet at the abandoned house, where prosecutors said Cammon would pay the woman to have sex.

She walked to the house and a short time later, Cammon arrived. The two went into the basement, prosecutors said. Cammon is alleged to have told the woman, that he was “sick of paying you b*iches for sex just for you to rush me.” The two argued when prosecutors said Cammon took some out handcuffs he had with him and handcuffed the woman. After she was handcuffed, Cammon dragged her to the upstairs attic where he chained her right ankle to the wall with her arms handcuffed in front of her body, prosecutors said.

He proceeded to lay the woman flat on her back and sexually assaulted her, according to the allegations. When he was finished, prosecutors said Cammon got up and left, leaving the woman chained to the wall. The woman had no cell phone to call for help. She banged on the walls and screamed for help, but no one heard her. She remained there overnight.

The next day, prosecutors said Cammon returned to the house, where he sexually assaulted the chained-and-handcuffed woman a second time as she begged him to stop. The woman asked Cammon to let her go, but he left the house leaving her chained to the wall, prosecutors said.

After the second assault, the woman continued banging on the wall and yellowing for help, but no one heard her. She remained there until she was found on May 21.

As Chicago police detectives began their investigation, they discovered a surveillance camera on a nearby fitness center. Video from May 18 captured the woman walking through the alley to the abandoned house. Later, prosecutors said the same video showed Cammon walking in the direction of the house, corroborating the woman’s account of the first sexual assault.

The next day, the same camera showed Cammon walking toward the house and later walking away, again corroborating the woman’s statement, prosecutors said.

After she was released from the hospital, the woman told a friend what happened. The friend spoke with police and provided more information about Cammon, whom she also knew from the neighborhood, prosecutors said.

Once the suspect was identified, prosecutors said the woman was able to pick Cammon out of a photo array. Chicago police began looking for Cammon, staking out his house in the 13800 block of South Western Avenue in Blue Island, but he never returned home. Cammon was arrested Tuesday when he showed up to his job in Alsip.

Prosecutors told the judge that Cammon was convicted of felony robbery in 1995, when he received two years’ probation. In 2016, he was charged with misdemeanor animal neglect for allegedly leaving a dog tied to a pole outside with no food, water or shelter.

The judge agreed with prosecutors that Cammon should be held without bail. Cammon is due back in court July 12 at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.