MU basketball prospect accused of raping woman during campus visit
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A basketball prospect for the University of Missouri has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a campus visit in September.
Keiner Asprilla, 18, was charged in Boone County as an adult on Tuesday with first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and second-degree kidnapping. A petition was filed in juvenile court on Jan. 3, according to a Jan. 24 email from Boone County's chief juvenile officer. He is listed on the Boone County Jail roster.
ABC 17 News requested records for police reports involving Keiner Asprilla from Sept. 1, 2024 to Jan. 24, 2025. A police report from the Columbia Police Department indicates that a report was made at 11:43 a.m. Oct. 8, 2024, about “a report of a sexual assault at an unknown location within the City of Columbia.”
The offense code on the report indicates that he has been accused of forcible rape.
The assault allegedly occurred on Sept. 20, 2024, according to the report. Asprilla’s 247 profile – which is a website that tracks recruiting for college athletics – says he visited MU’s campus on Sept. 20. He also shared a photo on Instagram on Sept. 23 of himself wearing an MU uniform.
"The safety of our campus community is of great importance. We are deeply concerned about these serious allegations. This alleged off-campus incident did not involve any of our students, and it was reported to the Columbia Police Department,” MU spokesman Christopher Ave wrote in a statement on Jan. 24.
Apsprilla attends St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey and has 12 scholarship offers from universities around the country. 247 claims MU has been his only campus visit. St. Peter’s athletic website lists Apsprilla as a junior.
According to the probable cause statement, Columbia detectives were notified by the Boone County Children’s Division on Oct. 8, 2024, of a sexual assault investigation where Asprilla was the suspect.
The victim allegedly called their mother on Sept. 22 about having a friend take them to an area hospital, but the mother was not told about the assault until Sept. 25, the statement says. The mother was then contacted by the Boone County Children’s Division and Ashland Police Department at a later date.
Police spoke with a school counselor, who told police that the victim requested to speak with them after the weekend of Sept. 22, court documents say. The victim told them that she was drunk in Downtown Columbia when she and friends met a group of males and her friends “went to do something else,” the statement says. The victim then went to the Tiger Hotel with Asprilla and his “group,” court documents indicate.
Asprilla asked the other men in the group to leave so he could be alone with the victim, court documents say. The victim rejected multiple advances and actions, but Asprilla sexually assaulted them more than once, court documents say.
Investigators reviewed bodycam footage from the Ashland Police Department showing the victim speaking with a children’s division investigator.
Court documents say the victim told investigators that they went to Downtown Columbia with three friends and met with a male whose name they could not pronounce – Asprilla. Asprilla allegedly told the victim he was from New Jersey and was visiting for a college scholarship opportunity.
The victim gave the Columbia Police Department the same details when interviewed on Oct. 8, court documents say.
Police spoke with a receptionist at the Tiger Hotel on Oct. 9 about an incident in September and – in the heavily redacted statement – the receptionist described an incident where a woman gave clothes to another inebriated woman wearing a towel. Police contacted that woman, who told police on Oct. 9 that her friend was raped.
Police also reviewed text messages between the victim and Asprilla, the statement says.
