Mass. man sentenced for breaking into 74-year-old woman’s home, raping and beating her
09/20/2022 2:17 pm PDT
MERRIMAC, Mass. (TCD) -- A 51-year-old man was sentenced to prison for breaking into a woman’s home in July 2021 while she slept, and then raping her several times.
According to the Essex District Attorney’s Office, William Raia pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping, armed assault in a dwelling, three counts of aggravated rape, assault to rape, strangulation, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person over 60, assault and battery on a person over 60 causing injury, and breaking and entering in the nighttime causing fear.
A judge sentenced Raia to 22 years in state prison with three years of probation. He will be required to wear a GPS monitoring device for his first year of probation.
On July 3, 2021, a 74-year-old woman reportedly woke up to Raia standing over her, and he "immediately began to attack her sexually and physically."
Raia reportedly said things to the victim that "made her believe that he had been watching her for some time and was familiar with her routine."
He smoked a cigarette in her house and drank a beer, and while he turned away, the victim ran naked out of her house "in the pouring rain" to her neighbor’s home for safety and to call the police.
When Merrimac Police Department officers arrived, they reportedly found the beer and cigarette butt, as well as an "'old-fashioned' flip phone" that was registered to Raia’s wife. Officers sent DNA from the woman’s rape kit, the cigarette butt, and beer can to a crime lab for analysis, and a "clear Y (male) profile was found in the rape kit and a complete profile on the beer can."
Officers reportedly surveilled Raia and collected a cigarette butt they reportedly saw him smoke. The DNA from that cigarette matched the other profiles.
The Salem News reports Raia hit the woman and stabbed her mattress with a knife several times. She reportedly tried using pepper spray and a pellet gun on him, but he took them away from her and instead sprayed her with it. The assault reportedly lasted about two hours.
According to the statement, Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said, "Were it not for the victim’s presence of mind and courage, this would have been a homicide. This was a made-for-TV horrifying attack in the night. The victim not only was able to escape, saving her life, but she also was able to direct law enforcement to key evidence that aided in identifying her attacker."
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