Suspect in 2018 Columbia rape arrested in St. Louis

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia police said Wednesday that a man charged over the summer with a 2018 rape was arrested in St. Louis.

Antonio E. Bates, 58, of St. Louis, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant for first-degree rape, according to a Columbia Police Department news release. A CPD spokesman said Bates will be brought back to Columbia to stand trial.

Bates was not listed on the inmate rosters of the Boone or St. Louis County jails on Wednesday morning.

Court documents state that on July 24, 2018, police were called to a sexual assault in the 800 block of Ann Street around 3 a.m. Police said the victim reported being outside near a garden area of an apartment when a conversation started with Bates, whom the victim did not know.

Bates forced the woman to the ground and assaulted her, police say. A sexual assault examination yielded DNA that matched Bates, the statement says.