MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A manhunt is underway for a suspect accused of attacking two women. He's now on the run, and one of his alleged victims is speaking out.
NewsChannel 5 has learned U.S. Marshals and Murfreesboro Police are warning the public and asking for help in catching a dangerous fugitive. An arrest can't happen soon enough for one alleged victim, who said the man raped her.
"That's him, yeah," said the woman who asked that we conceal her identity. "It just makes me sick. I want him off the streets,” she said as she looked at a mugshot of the suspect.
U.S. Marshals and Murfreesboro Police were quietly looking for 24-year-old Ryan Taylor, but then something spooked him. He reportedly ran and now authorities have gone public with the manhunt by unsealing the criminal indictment.
NewsChannel 5 obtained the copy sent to police and deputies, which read: "You are commanded to take Ryan Taylor if he be found in your county and then have him before the Judge to answer the charges of: Sexual Battery -- 2 counts and Rape."
"He has a history of breaking into people's houses and committing violent sexual crimes. So we consider him dangerous," said Kyle Evans with Murfreesboro Police Department.
He said Taylor actually went to trial last year on a child rape charge, but was found not guilty. Not long after that verdict, new charges surfaced involving two adult women.
"This person is no stranger to law enforcement and it's someone we want to get behind bars as soon as possible," said Evans.
"I got to sleep and I wake up and he was touching me. He was penetrating me," said the woman.
She said she knew Taylor from high school and he attacked her as she slept at a friend's house last August. She pushed him off and called police.
The indictment came down late last year but then Taylor vanished.
"He's probably out there doing the same thing and nobody speaking up about it because they are too scared. Well I'm not," she said. "Who knows who else it will happen to by him?"
U.S. Marshals and police think Taylor may well have left the area, possibly hiding out now with friends in Memphis.
Anyone with information on this case was asked to contact the Murfreesboro Police Department.
