Cup led police to suspect in assault
Police used the time stamp on a discarded Dunkin’ coffee cup to track down a suspect in last week’s violent sexual assault on a 48-year-old woman in the Middlesex Fells Reservation.
The Medford man ac- cused of the rape — who also reportedly hit the victim 14 times with a rock and his fists — was ordered held Monday pending a mental health evaluation.
The suspect, 28-year-old Brady Mccue, appeared in Somerville District Court and faces charges of armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, kidnapping and four counts of aggravated rape.
According to the prosecutor, Winchester Police responded to the popular wooded park around 8 a.m. Nov. 26, where they found the victim badly beaten around her face, and her “clothing and hair covered in blood.”
The victim told police she had been sexually assaulted by a man who was holding a coffee cup when he approached her. She was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was diagnosed with a skull fracture, severe trauma to her head and injuries sustained from the alleged sexual assault.
At the site of the alleged crime, police found bloody duct tape, as well as a Dunkin’ coffee cup with a time-stamped sticker on the side. They returned to the Dunkin’ shop shown on the sticker in Medford Square and used images from security footage corresponding with the time stamp to obtain a photo of the suspect police identified as Mccue.
With the help of neighbors and State Police, Winchester Police found Mccue’s apartment. Mccue let Winchester and State Police into his home and cooperated. They transported him to the local station where he was arrested.
Mccue told police he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and stopped taking his medication on Nov. 23, and that he “had left his apartment with the intention of hurting someone” that morning. Prosecutors said Mccue told police he brought duct tape to the reservation and picked up a rock before he saw the victim on the trail. He said he found her to be small and pretty, according to prosecutors.
Mccue’s alleged attack on the victim was vicious. Prosecutors said he hit her face 14 times with the rock he pocketed, as well as his fists, before he put a jacket over her head and sexually assaulted her. The victim told police he walked away after the assault, leaving her covered by the jacket in the dirt. He called out to her once to see whether she would respond, but she stayed silent and motionless in hopes he would leave her.
A psychological evaluation from a doctor will determine Mccue’s competency and criminal responsibility in the alleged attack.