Man charged for kidnapping after assaulting woman in South Austin while only wearing a t-shirt
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin police have arrested a man accused of assaulting a woman on a trail while wearing only a T-shirt in South Austin last week.
Officers took the suspect into custody on Friday. They say if it weren't for the community being vigilant police wouldn't have caught him so quickly.
Robert Michael Lormand, 41, was charged with a third degree felony of kidnapping.
It all started around 3 p.m. on June 24 when APD received two phone calls about the same suspect.
One call came in about a naked man being seen in front of Travis Heights Elementary School with his clothes balled up. He told administrators he had a gun, so they called police and placed the school on lockdown.
The other call came from the Greenbelt area off Eastside Drive at the Hike and Bike Trail.
Police say a woman was jogging, when Lormand grabbed and dragged her to the ground. They say he pinned her down, grabbed her private area and threatened to kill her.
“So she was definitely in fear for her life. She felt like if she had gone to the woods like how he'd told her that something really bad would have happened to her,” Detective Richard Will said. “So she was kicking and screaming and fighting and she was able to get free.”
She ran to the nearest house to call 911.
Within days APD was able to arrest Lormand because of a neighbor's camera footage and multiple tips.
Will, lead detective with the APD Sex Crimes Unit, says the district attorney's office advised him to classify this as a kidnapping.
“As he held the victim down. He abducted her,” Will said. “By abducted her I mean he basically restrained her movement and kept her in one place. And then threatened to use deadly force. He actually made a maneuver as well. As he was holding her down he reached behind her and acted like he was pulling something out and told her ‘I have a gun’.”
Will says they believe Lormand is homeless and the victim says his eyes didn't look right to her, and they seemed quote "crazed".
“It was very unique We call these stranger assaults or stranger kidnapping if you will,” Will said.
Lormand told the woman he attacked that he had a gun, however when he was detained and released, police say they did not find a gun on him.