AUSTIN (KXAN) — New details emerge from documents filed in court after a man was accused of attacking and trying to kidnap a woman jogging on a trail in south Austin last week.
Robert Michael Lormand, 41, was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree felony kidnapping. His bail was set at $100,000.
Officers were first alerted to Lormand on June 24, when reports of a naked man in the area caused officials to put Travis Heights Elementary School on lockout mode.
Then just a little while later, a woman was jogging south on Trails of Blunn Creek along the 1900 block of East Side Drive when a man she didn’t know approached her, the victim told police.
He was between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall with an average, stocky build and dark brown hair. He was wearing a long, plain white T-shirt but no pants. The woman told police he did have a black belt or shirt tied around his waist.
“As the victim and male passed each other, the male lunged at the victim, grabbing both of her upper arms,” police wrote in the arrest affidavit. It says the man then dragged the woman to the ground and pinned her down as he touched her inappropriately.
“The victim screamed and struggled to break free of the male’s grasp but could not,” officials wrote. “The male grabbed the victim’s throat and told her to stop screaming.”
The man allegedly reached around his back and told the woman he would kill her if she kept screaming. She didn’t stop.
“The male told the victim to keep quiet and for her to go into the wooded area by creek. The victim continued to resist and was eventually able to fight off the male and run away,” officials wrote.
The victim ran to the nearest house for help and police were called. Officers searched the area for the man but didn’t find him immediately. Four days later, the investigating officer learned that police had detained a man who matched the description of the suspect on the day of the alleged attack. He was wearing khaki pants. Police released the man that day because they were searching for a man wearing no pants.
The investigating officer also received a surveillance photo of a man who matched the description at the 11000 block of Fairmount Avenue. The timestamp on the photo was just minutes after the alleged attack took place. He was dressed like the victim described and wasn’t wearing any pants.
“The male asked the resident if they could help him out. The resident gave the subject a pair of long khaki pants,” officials wrote. “The resident also stated that subject had been detained by police in handcuffs just minutes after the photo was taken.”
Lormand was identified as the man police had stopped the day of the assault and when the victim was presented his photo in a lineup, she named him as her alleged assaulter, police say.
Lormand was then arrested a second time and remains in the Travis County Jail.
