A Clearwater woman said she was sexually assaulted in March and had to wait an agonizing three and a half months to get the results of her rape kit test.

Bay News 9 is not identifying the victim due to the nature of the crime.

“A person can stay strong for so long and that’s it," said the 25-year-old alleged victim. “Three months and not getting answers, that’s not fair, that’s not fair to anybody.” 

The woman said on March 23, while she was living at the Fountain Square Condos in Clearwater, she heard her front door handle jiggle and got out of bed. She assumed it was a friend who was supposed to come over.

“I was pushed down in my doorway. I tried to move away and he jumped on top of me, put a cloth over me," she said. "I tried to keep my breath held because I didn’t know what it was. A few seconds later, I couldn’t move and I couldn’t scream.”

The victim said her "brain was awake" but her body was immobilized on the floor.

“He had taken my underwear off, that I had on, then he had raped me,” she said. "After he was done, he had said one thing. He said, ‘that’s what I wanted b--ch.’"

The woman said she did not get a good look at the rapist because it was night out, all the lights in her condo were off and she was face down. She describes the shadowy intruder as a short, stalky, bald guy.

“So, I just laid there waiting because I knew that my friend was coming over," she said. “He found me there, I couldn’t talk. All I could do was kind of moan."

Bay News 9 got a copy of the friend’s 911 call that was placed at 11:23 pm: 

Caller: “She’s on the ground, barely moving and I don’t know what happened. Her clothes are off… I don’t know anything. She doesn’t look hurt other than she can’t seem to talk. And her clothes, her panties are off. Her bottoms are off and she was on her stomach.”

Clearwater police and paramedics responded. The victim said she was taken to a hospital and agreed to a rape kit test. The woman said she was told by a detective that results would take no more than two months.

"I called him after 8-weeks and I said, ‘any results yet?’ And he said, his next words were, ‘I’m sorry (name redacted), there’s more important cases in front of yours.'”

The victim said she believes her case was put on the back burner.

After Bay News 9 began investigating her claim, the victim said she got a call from the detective on July 12, who told her that the rape kit test results came back negative for semen. That call came more than three and a half months after the rape was initially reported.

“It’s something that shouldn’t take this long," she said. "I guess when they say there’s no semen, I would hope that that would mean maybe there was protection used? I would hope."

Usual length for test results?

The executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, Jennifer Dritt, said over the phone from Tallahassee, that waiting 15-weeks for test results is not normal.

"That is unusually long. Florida, historically, has had no backlog of rape kits to be processed,” Dritt said. “I believe that crime labs typically process between four and six weeks.”

Dritt said she's not surprised by the negative rape kit test results.

"Some offenders use condoms or don't ejaculate," she said. "Good substantial research by federal agencies and federal law enforcement agencies has indicated that more than 9 out of 10 reports of sexual assaults are truthful.”

Dritt's time frame is in line with the Pinellas County Forensic Science Center, according to director Reta Newman. The Pinellas lab conducted the victim's rape kit test.

Newman said she can't talk specifically about this case because it's still open but generally it's very unusual for rape kit test results to take any longer than 6-weeks and there's no backlog.

In a written statement, Clearwater police spokeswoman, Elizabeth Watts, said the detective submitted the victim's rape kit test about two and a half weeks after it was taken.

“The date the test was submitted was April 12… it takes time for a detective to review all evidence and decide what should be submitted for testing,” Watts said.

Doing the math, that means there's seven weeks that are unaccounted for.

How it works

At least three agencies are involved in the rape kit test chain of custody. Clearwater police sends the test to the Pinellas Sheriff's office forensics unit, who then sends it to the Pinellas lab. The Sheriff's Office said they can't talk about Clearwater's case either because it's still open.

After getting the negative results for the victim's test, the detective sent off other evidence for additional processing, according to Watts.

“It should be noted that the victim made inconsistent statements to detectives, which is always a concern in any investigation," she said. "Nonetheless, detectives are conducting a very thorough and complete investigation.”

But Bay News 9 found some of the victim's former neighbors who said that police never interviewed them or left anything on their door.

“I think that’s odd. I think that’s very, very, odd," said Connie Gall, who lives below the victim's former condo. "I think that’s something everybody in this complex should know.”

Gall said she remembers March 23, because her family was in town for her parents' anniversary party and her daughter was moving into her condo that night.

"While I was at the party she was moving her stuff in here," Gall said.

Gall's daughter, Emilie Neeley, told Bay News 9 over the phone that she saw a suspicious man near the victim's unit that night.

“Honestly, the only reason why he stuck out to me was because it was hot that day and he was in a leather jacket and he had gloves on,” Neeley said. “He was standing in the middle of the platform."

Neeley said her friend got a bad feeling after making small talk with the man.

"She was like, ‘I don’t want to leave you here’. And I said, ‘why?’ And she said, ‘that man made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.’” 

Without knowing it ahead of time, Neeley gave the same description of the suspect that the victim gave police.

“He had on a pair of blue jeans and they were like stonewashed blue jeans. And he had on a black leather jacket and he had on a black t-shirt underneath it and it was a v-neck t-shirt," she said. "He had on a silver figaro chain and he had on the black leather gloves.”

Neeley said she saw police at the condo the next day but didn't know what crime they were investigating and did not interview her.

“The detectives, they were all over the apartment complex but they never knocked on our door, never, not once," Neeley said.

The victim said she hopes for an arrest and to feel safe someday.

“Somebody broke into my house, and drugged me, and raped me," she said. “Even though I moved, I’m still on my toes. I’m waiting to get a firearm. My whole life has changed. I don’t sleep at night and I just wanted answers.”