By Steve White swhite@nebraska.tv and Nina Harrelson nharrelson@nebraska.tv
A Grand Island man accused of kidnapping and raping a four-year-old girl living in his apartment complex waived his preliminary hearing Friday, moving his case closer to trial.
Abraham Richardson, 26, gave up his right to the hearing in county court. He said little, only "yes sir" when prompted by the judge.
Richardson is accused of sexually assaulting a young girl outside her home at the Riverbend Apartments in Grand Island Oct. 2.
He faces an upcoming federal trial on an unrelated child pornography charge that has had him in custody since October 20.
On Friday, the judge in Hall County continued his bond and set arraignment in district court for 9 a.m. on March 13.
According to court records, around 10:40 p.m. on the night of Oct. 2, a woman driving through the apartment complex heard a child yelling and the voice of a man saying "hush." The woman shined her headlights in the direction of the voices and saw a man holding a little girl.
When the suspect saw the car, he immediately threw the victim to the ground and fled into a nearby cornfield.
A neighbor of the victim also heard what she said sounded like animals fighting outside her bedroom. When she got up to see what it was, she saw the victim outside, wearing nothing but a pajama top and crying.
The neighbor asked the little girl if she needed help, and she said 'yes.' The woman noticed the girl had obvious sexual assault injuries and was saying "he took my pants off" and "he hurt my body."
The victim was taken to St. Francis Medical Center for a medical exam and DNA samples were taken.
In an interview at Grand Island's Child Advocacy Center, the little girl told police that she went into her mother's bedroom to get something, and when she shut the door, "the bad man" grabbed her. She said he told her it would "be over in a minute."
Authorities haven't said how Richardson got into the apartment or if he has any connection to the victim's family.
Police tracked him down after receiving several anonymous phone calls from residents who said they believed the suspect was Richardson, who also lives in the Riverbend Apartment complex.
Richardson's computer had recently been seized by the Department of Homeland Security as part of a child pornography investigation, authorities said.
According to the court records, Richardson was supposed to pick up his girlfriend from work on the night of Oct. 3, but never showed, telling people that he had been detained by officers for five hours as the suspect of a burglary.
After searching Richardson's girlfriend's apartment, police found a pair of the man's shorts with the victim's DNA.
It took until the early days of the new year to issue the arrest warrant for the alleged assault, police explained, because they had to wait for evidence to come back from the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab.
"We were worried about public safety with the initial news release," Grand Island Police Chief Steve Lamken said. "The actions of Homeland Security folks here and the U.S. attorney gave us peace he was not out there."
As the investigation into the kidnapping, assault and sexual assault narrowed on a suspect, police worked with federal agents to hasten their arrest, while giving the crime lab time to process physical evidence, and that, Lamken explained, is why it took so long to name their suspect.
"We would like to thank our community for their trust and patience during the past three months," he said. "We can only imagine the trauma and difficulty faced by the victim and family while the investigation was in progress."
Richardson has several misdemeanor convictions for crimes such as public indecency, assault and driving under the influence, however, he has no felonies on his record.
