COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A jailed Garfield Park man charged with rape has been linked by DNA evidence to two more assaults — including one against a young woman whose boyfriend had just gotten out of bed to use the bathroom, authorities said.
Tyreese Richardson, 20, is accused of two early morning break-ins on the West Side in which, prosecutors say, he wielded a knife and threatened to kill his victims, a 34-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman.
Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Sexton told a Cook County judge on Wednesday that Richardson snuck into a home in the 2700 block of West Gladys Avenue around 6 a.m. on Aug. 25 while the 19-year-old victim's boyfriend was using the bathroom.
Richardson allegedly blocked the bedroom door with furniture. While threatening the woman with a knife, he put a pillow over her face, tied her wrists with cable and assaulted her.
The boyfriend returned, landed one punch and grabbed Richardson's hat as the attacker fled through an open window, Sexton said.
Less than three weeks earlier, Richardson attacked a different woman in her home in the 2700 block of West Adams Street, authorities said.
Sexton said that victim woke in her home to find a masked man with a knife. Richardson told the woman, "I want you to try to get away so I can kill you," Sexton said.
Richardson allegedly took the victim's engagement ring and then sexually assaulted her.
Police used DNA evidence from Richardson's hat and rape kits to link him to the attacks, Sexton said.
Richardson is already in jail in lieu of a $1.5 million bond, charged with two July aggravated criminal sexual assault cases.
On Wednesday, Sexton told Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan that Richardson is a "threat to the physical safety of all women," adding that Richardson confessed to both crimes. Sullivan ruled that Richardson should be held without bond.
Richardson was previously convicted of residential burglary, for which he was sentenced to two years probation, and possession of a controlled substance. He served one year in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the drug charge.
