By Allen Edmonds
PLEASANT HILL – A 54-year-old Pleasant Hill man is being held in the Cass County Jail on $100,000 bond on an aggravated rape charge after he allegedly picked up a 52-year-old woman in Kansas City, took her to his residence in the 19000 block of M-291 Highway between Raymore and Pleasant Hill, raped and assaulted her and held her at the property against her will.
The incident allegedly took place beginning the night of Jan. 10 and continued into Jan. 11, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies interviewed the woman while she was recovering from injuries at an Independence hospital.
The victim told a CCSO detective that she was approached by Shawn Kenneth Schuyler at a bus stop in the area of 87th Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard in Kansas City. She said Schuyler offered her a ride home, so she got into his black Chevrolet Suburban, but she said the vehicle had no inside door handles, so she was unable to get out of the vehicle once inside.
She then told the detective that she was not taken to her residence, but instead got onto an unknown highway. She said that while en route to what ended up being the defendant’s residence, she asked multiple times for him to stop and let her out of the vehicle, which he did not. She told the detective that instead, he struck her several times, including about the head. She said one of her earrings was ripped out during the trip.
She said he tried to call 911 on her cell phone, but Schuyler took it from her.
She said that once they were at the residence on M-291 Highway, he grabbed her by the throat, choking her while dragging her out of the vehicle and inside. Once inside, she said, the defendant raped her before spending the night and into the morning getting high on drugs with two other males. She said she was raped several more times by Schuyler before he fell asleep on top of her.
She described being further terrorized and assaulted throughout the next day, telling the detective that Schuyler had threatened to kill her and bury her on the rural property near the residence, and had told one of the other males to get a shovel.
She said that at one point, she was locked in a room inside the garage while Schuyler left. She said during that time, she located a piece of paper with the defendant’s name and address on it.
At another point, she said she was placed in another vehicle. She said he was able to escape from the vehicle once they left the property when the defendants and the other suspects took a wrong turn and stopped to turn around. She ran to a gas station and had the clerk call 911.
Schuyler’s next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. before Associate Circuit Judge Mike Rumley.