A Gaithersburg, Maryland, man will spend the next four decades behind bars after admitting to a vicious attack on a woman behind a bus stop in 2017.
Thirty-one-year-old David Lee Williams was sentenced to life, with all but 45 years suspended, Wednesday after pleading guilty to a first-degree rape charge stemming from his actions at a bus stop along Watkins Mill Road near Travis Lane around 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2017.
“This was an incredibly vicious and heinous crime. We applaud Judge (Steven) Salant for exceeding the typical sentencing guidelines for this defendant who selected a victim at random and engaged in such cruel and violent conduct,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy.
Court records detailed a brutal assault in which Williams targeted a woman who walked up to the bus stop where he was waiting. The victim recounted Williams grabbing her from behind, pushing her down a hill and shoving cocaine into her mouth before proceeding to rape and beat her. Williams then took her belongings and left her at the scene, naked except for her socks and underwear and unconscious.
“Before the crime, I was a very strong and independent person. This incident changed my whole life. I was never able to do the same things as before,” the victim, who was hospitalized for a week and sought physical therapy for eight months, wrote in her impact statement for Williams’ trial.
In a sentencing memo, state’s attorneys detailed how a forensic nurse at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital found numerous injuries to the victim’s arms, legs, torso, and back, and “bite marks in 27 different locations,” as well as substantial genital injuries. Dirt had to be scraped from the roof of her mouth.
“My life has been changed totally, emotionally and mentally and financially. I was broken, scared of sitting alone, and I did not clearly remember everything. Only some part I remember and that part also makes me cry and scream in night.”
The victim’s attacker went unidentified until DNA from the rape was matched to a blood sample from an attempted burglary earlier that year. That eventually led Montgomery County police to locate and arrest Williams in 2019 on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
McCarthy praised police for using cutting-edge technology to solve the cold case.
A hearing is set this December to determine whether Williams will have to pay around $14,600 requested by the victim to cover her medical bills.
As part of his sentence, Williams must serve five years of supervised probation after his release and will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
