Police body cams, surveillance footage led to suspect's arrest in "horrific" Madison attack

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MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Police body cameras and surveillance cameras captured the suspect multiple times prior to a brutal attack in downtown Madison that left a woman fighting for her life. Madison Police Dept. Chief Shon Barnes credited the footage with helping investigators identify and track down the suspect.

Chief Barnes explained that Fitchburg Police Department officers pulled Brandon Thompson over around 1:20 a.m. Sunday, about two hours before police responded to downtown Madison for the attack. The traffic stop, which was for a registration violation, was recorded on police body camera footage. Surveillance cameras in downtown Madison showed Thompson following the victim, and Barnes noted the 26-year-old suspect was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was pulled over in Fitchburg.

A witness told investigators about hearing a commotion and coming outside to find the suspect and victim, Barnes continued. Thompson reportedly told the witness that he found the victim laying nearby before he got into his car and drove off, explained Barnes. The witness asked Thompson to stay on the scene, but Barnes said Thompson refused. An official at the press conference explained that biological evidence and DNA swabs were collected at the scene. That is now being tested in the state crime lab. Police said the surveillance video sent in from businesses a “linchpin” in making the arrest and were among dozens of submissions from the community. UWPD Chief Kristen Roman condemned the attack during the news conference.

“The violence perpetrated against this young woman Sunday morning was horrific and will not be tolerated,” Roman said. “This is not Madison, this is not UW-Madison, the safety of our Badger community will remain always our top priority we will work collaboratively with our city partners to prevent sexual violence.” Chief Barnes also showed his full-fledged support for the survivor, who is still in the hospital. She is expected to survive. “You have the full support of the Madison community and the Madison Police Department and you are strong and you are the very definition of courage,” Barnes said.

https://www.nbc15.com/2023/09/06/suspect-arrested-horrific-attack-sexual-assault-madison/

Just horrible. Victim in critical condition.

Perp:

Link to tweet

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1. Man charged in brutal rape of UW-Madison student held on $1 million bail

The man charged in a brutal and random rape of a UW-Madison student last weekend told police that he “saw red” before the attack and remembered hitting the woman repeatedly but could not be sure that he sexually assaulted her, according to a criminal complaint. Brandon A. Thompson, 26, was ordered held on $1 million bail Thursday on charges of first-degree sexual assault causing great bodily harm, first-degree reckless injury, and strangulation and suffocation in the attack on the woman as she was walking home Sunday sometime after 2:30 a.m. in the 500 block of West Wilson Street. DNA evidence also links him to the victim, according to the complaint.

It was “one of the most horrific sexual assaults in recent memory here in Dane County,” Dane County Deputy District Attorney William Brown said during Thompson’s initial hearing. The woman, who is in her 20s, was found naked, covered in blood and unconscious after the attack, according to the criminal complaint, and later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, multiple lacerations and broken teeth, a broken jaw and two swollen eyes. She is currently “on a feeding tube and unable to provide a statement as she shows extreme signs of confusion when awake,” the complaint says, and was put into a medically induced coma immediately after the attack. Brown asked that bail be set at $2 million Thursday, saying that the attack was especially egregious because it was random.

“What we’ve learned in the course of the last 72 hours ... is that this defendant was simply driving down the street and saw the victim, had no prior interaction or contact with the victim, and spontaneously decided to pull his car over, most of this occurring on camera, follow her for some distance around the Downtown area, and then attack her,” Brown said. Thompson’s attorney, Emily Bell, noted that her client has no prior criminal record, is a college graduate and resident of Dane County, and that his defense team has “uncovered some evidence that is inconsistent with the state’s narrative.” She asked for $10,000 bond.

Thompson appeared for the hearing via video from a cell in the Dane County Jail’s segregation unit, sometimes lightly shaking his head as Brown laid out the allegations against him.

https://madison.com/news/local/crime-courts/brandon-thompson-student-assault/article_4006070c-4d9b-11ee-a9fe-8f98352a9bb0.html