Alleged Ohio Rapist Has Murder, Kidnap Warrants In Another State

CINCINNATI (AP) A man arrested in Ohio on suspicion of stabbing his brother and raping a woman is wanted in Massachusetts on charges including attempted murder, rape, assault, and kidnapping, authorities said Monday.

Keven Blakemore, 21, was arrested Sunday in southern Ohio’s Pike County, where the sheriff said the suspect arrived after driving both victims from his Massachusetts home.

Bond was set Monday at $91,500 for Blakemore after he was arraigned Monday on charges of escape and grand theft of a motor vehicle, which stem from his arrest at an Ohio hospital where the brother went for treatment.

Court officials said he did not yet have an attorney but would be appointed a public defender. Blakemore was being held in neighboring Scioto County jail. No plea was entered for Blakemore on the charges.

Blakemore’s brother, Ken Herbison, of Boxborough, Massachusetts, first told hospital officials he’d been in an ATV accident, according to Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader.

A nurse suspicious that the victim’s clothes weren’t dirty or torn called police, Reader said. Later X-rays showed the man had been stabbed several times, the sheriff said.

Blakemore was taken into custody at the hospital and placed into a deputy’s car, but got his hands - cuffed in the back - under his legs, allowing him to crawl through to the front, Reader said.

Blakemore hit an air horn in the process, alerting deputies, who drew their weapons and forced him to stop after he backed up a couple dozen yards, authorities said.

“Fortunately no blood was shed, and he was taken into custody and placed in another cruiser,” Reader said.

Herbison was later taken to a Columbus hospital, but his condition wasn’t immediately known, Reader said.

In a news release, Boxborough police said Blakemore stabbed a male relative several times at their apartment. He then assaulted and raped a woman who was also in the home and forced both victims into a car and drove from Massachusetts to Ohio, Boxborough police said.

Reader said the woman was later located at a home in Pike County. There was no indication she was being held against her will, but mental health officials were brought in to talk with her, he said.

“We are still trying to sort out what happened,” said Reader, who noted that Ohio authorities were consulting with Massachusetts officials on the investigation.