Athens man indicted in series of rapes
An Athens man is accused in a multiple-count indictment of being the serial rapist wanted in connection with a series of sexual assaults on women in the city.
Shawn J. Lawson Jr., 26, of Athens, was arrested about 4:20 p.m. Monday and booked a short time later into the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail.
Lawson was indicted by an Athens County grand jury on 11 felony counts: two counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, three counts of felonious assault, three counts of kidnapping and two counts of aggravated burglary. He is scheduled to be arraigned about noon today before Athens County Common Pleas Court Judge George P. McCarthy.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn called the arrest a “major breakthrough” in the Athens Police Department’s case. The FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation had spent months assisting Athens police in investigating the case.
A news conference has been scheduled for 2 p.m. today following Lawson’s arraignment. In addition to Blackburn, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine are expected to attend.
The Athens and Ohio University community have been on edge since the Dec. 12, 2015, sexual assault of a woman who had been walking home alone from the uptown area. Many young women have been taking the precaution of carrying Mace or pepper spray and walking in groups at night.
DNA from the December 2015 case was linked to two other unsolved cases, on June 20, 2015, and June 11, 2006. The circumstances in those cases were similar.
The multiple count indictment links Lawson to all three offenses. He is charged with kidnapping, felonious assault and attempted rape in the June 20, 2015, attack. He is charged with rape, kidnapping, felonious assault and aggravated burglary in the Dec. 12, 2015, and June 11, 2006, attacks. The other felony counts are in conjunction with the sexual assault cases.
Last month, Athens police and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation made their first foray into DNA-generated sketches with a Virginia laboratory in an effort to help them catch the serial rapist.
A lab analysis of the suspect’s DNA was used to create two images, with and without a ball cap. The description stated that the man was fair skinned and of northern European ancestry and had blue, green or hazel eyes and hair that is reddish brown or blond. Lawson is described as having brown hair and green eyes.