Serial rape suspect facing nearly 5 dozen charges, Indianapolis police say

INDIANAPOLIS — A suspected serial rapist in Indianapolis is facing a total of 57 charges related to the sexual assaults of eight women spanning more than a year.

Darrell Goodlow, 37, was arrested Friday, but formal charges have not yet been filed, WXIN and The Indianapolis Star reported.

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According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police, Goodlow posed as a utility or service worker to gain access to his victims’ homes on the city’s east side, the IndyStar reported.

Specifically, Goodlow is accused of preying on older women who typically lived alone, often “bluffing or pushing his way into their homes and holding his victims hostage, repeatedly raping and threatening them, striking them in the face if they caught a glimpse of him, disguising his voice, so he couldn’t be identified, wearing a condom and stomping to death a small dog before a fingerprint linked his name to DNA evidence left behind at six crime scenes,” WXIN reported.

The formal charges are expected to include rape, assault, burglary, strangulation, kidnapping and criminal confinement, the TV station reported.

Goodlow’s alleged spree began in August 2020, and escalated five weeks later when three women in one home were sexually assaulted and their dog was killed. During the last reported assault, which occurred Sept. 8, detectives recovered a fingerprint that they said matched Goodlow’s, the IndyStar reported.

According to an affidavit, Goodlow’s DNA profile, collected one week ago at his east-side home, “matches the DNA profile of the unknown suspect from all the above described rape investigations.”

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears confirmed to WXIN that 15 of the 57 counts are Level 1 felonies, carrying a penalty of 20-40 years each.

“Because these are separate incidents involving multiple victims, it is the position of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office that many of these charges can run consecutive to one another,” Mears told the TV station, indicating that guilty verdicts could result in a prison sentence totaling more than 100 years.

IMPD Deputy Chief Craig McCartt also confirmed to WXIN that the victims ranged in age from 58 to 78.

Goodlow is due in court for his initial hearing Thursday morning.

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