A man is accused of kidnapping a woman, binding her to a piece of heavy equipment, beating and sexually assaulting her in a Chicago suburb before being caught by a witness thanks to a "strange call" in the middle of the night, authorities said.
Ryan Storm, of Palatine, faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse and unlawful restraint after police say he was arrested following a discovery inside a Lake Barrington business. The Lake County Sheriff's Office said additional charges are "likely."
The sheriff's office said it responded to a report of a possible sexual assault in progress around 2 a.m. Wednesday at a business in the 28000 block of Commercial Avenue in Lake Barrington.
There, a 911 caller said he was checking on the well being of a 20-year-old Palatine man, identified as Storm, who worked at the address.
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"A strange call from Storm prompted the caller to check Storm’s well-being," the sheriff's office said in a release.
But when the caller went into the business, Storm fled out a door and the caller found a nude woman bound to a piece of heavy equipment.
"The woman, a 20-year-old, had been battered and was the victim of a sexual assault," the sheriff's office said, adding that an investigation found she had been held against her will.
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She was taken to an area hospital where she is recovering, according to police.
Officers from multiple area suburbs began searching for Storm and received information he had been spotted on Ski Hill Road in Fox River Grove.
A Fox River Grove officer then found Storm running in the 900 block of Ski Hill Road and took him into custody, authorities said.
"I firmly believe that the victim’s life was saved because of the gut feeling the caller had, and the caller taking the further step of checking on the situation in the middle of the night," Lake County Sheriff John D. Idleburg said in a statement. "That, in conjunction with terrific law-enforcement collaboration, saved the victim’s life and allowed us to take the offender into custody.”
