Uber driver previously charged in attempted abduction now accused of rape, kidnapping

An Uber driver that was previously charged with an attempted abduction on Greenwood Avenue is being accused of rape and kidnapping.

Police said in November, they were dispatched to University of Missouri Hospital in reference to a sexual assault.

The female victim reported that she was drinking with friends the night before and had no memory of leaving the bar. Her next memory was being in a gold colored mini-van and being yelled at by a white male who was tasing her.

The woman said the man was using the taser to threaten her. She also remembered two other male suspects and told police she was taken to another location where “bad things happened to her,” before being driven to another location and pushed out of the van. She reported one of the men was older and heavy set, and thought the other may have had reddish hair and was “grimey.”

The victim had a sexual assault kit completed at University Hospital and a lab analysis of the evidence detected semen was present. A DNA profile was developed from the fluid and entered into a database.

On March 5, the DNA profile got a hit and the MissourI State Highway Patrol lab reported that the profile matched with Anthony Rowell. He had previously provided his DNA in connection with a sexual assault case out of Aurora, Mo. in 2002.

Police searched Rowell’s home in Holt Summit and officers found a stun gun with a long strand of hair attached to the end of it.

Rowell was arrested on Wednesday in Fulton and is charged with rape and kidnapping.