Louisiana fugitive arrested in rape of 12-year-old girl

A Louisiana jail escapee caught more than three weeks ago in Colorado Springs has been linked to the Oct. 25 rape of a 12-year-old girl who was attacked while walking to a school bus stop near her home, Colorado Springs police said Thursday.

Leonard Palmer, who has been held in a Louisiana jail since late October, faces possible charges of kidnapping and sexual assault on a child after DNA evidence connected him to the rape, said Sgt. Mike Velasquez, with the Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit.

Word of the match brought “utter relief” to the rape victim, Velasquez said.

“This little girl is an inspiring person,” Velasquez said.

Police arrested Palmer the night of the rape on separate charges of escaping the West Carroll Detention Center in Epps, La., three days earlier. Palmer had been serving time for burglary and forgery.

He was the second of two Louisiana jail escapees caught in Colorado Springs that week.
Charles Magurn, who was serving time for “carnal knowledge of a juvenile” before escaping with Palmer, was captured by police on Oct. 24.

Around 8:40 a.m. the next day, the girl was pulled into an alley, beaten and raped while walking to her bus stop on the 400 block of E. Brookside Street, police said.

Later that night, police and members of the U.S. Marshalls Office set up a sting to capture the second Louisiana escapee at a Conoco gas station less than two blocks from the scene of the rape, police said.

Officers were told someone might pick Palmer up at the gas station, police said. In a ruse, officers coaxed him out of hiding and into the parking lot at 1433 S. Tejon St., where he was arrested, police said.

Investigators didn’t initially suspect Palmer was the attacker until a patrol officer that day noticed that one of the Louisiana jail escapees matched the attacker’s description, said Barbara Miller, police spokeswoman.

Samples of Palmer’s DNA were sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the results were handed down Thursday.

“Without that match, we wouldn’t be here today,” Velasquez said at a news conference Thursday.

While investigators waited for the DNAresults, officers released a sketch of the attacker.

Detectives also fielded numerous tips from a detailed description offered by the rape victim.

“For anybody who’s been a victim of this crime, it takes a lot of courage to do the things that she’s done,” Velasquez said. “I think she’s doing great. I’m amazed every time I see her.”

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