SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A grand jury has indicted a Sioux Falls man on charges that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl last year.
The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports the grand jury this past week returned an indictment charging Derrick Leon Willis with third- and fourth-degree rape, child enticement and furnishing alcohol to a child.
According to an affidavit, a 13-year-old girl went missing on July 18, 2019. The next morning a gas station employee reported the girl was in the store asking for police.
She told investigators that she had woken up in an unknown apartment with a man she didn’t know. She said the man had a large scar on his torso. She later said during a sexual assault examination that the man had sex with her in the apartment and she ran away.
Police went to the gas station that same day to watch surveillance video. While an officer was watching the video Willis arrived at the station and police stopped him. During an interview Willis lifted his shirt to wipe sweat from his face, revealing a scar.
DNA from the sexual assault exam matched Willis, the affidavit said, but tests weren’t completed until October 2019.
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