Police were able to track down and arrest a man accused of rape using an unexpected piece of evidence: a discarded coffee cup.
Brady McCue is charged with assaulting a woman on the Leslie Road Trail Head in Medford, Massachusetts, on Friday morning. McCue allegedly struck the 48-year-old woman, who he did not know before the attack, multiple times with a rock, raped her, and left her for dead on the trail.
Speaking with police later, the woman, whose name has not been released to the public, said that she remembered her attacker carrying a white coffee cup from Dunkin'. Using this concrete lead, police were able to find a discarded cup matching that description nearby the reported scene of the attack. This cup became an even better lead when police found a sticker on the side of it, showing the time and location where it was purchased.
Police were then able to obtain security footage of the suspect leaving the Dunkin' location at the Medford Square shopping center. They took these images of the suspect to nearby housing complexes and were able to positively identify the man as 28-year-old McCue. With the information found on the cup, authorities were able to make an arrest only hours after the attack, prosecutor Carrie Spiros said.
Once in police custody, McCue reportedly confessed to the assault. He told investigators that he hit the woman with a rock and struck her 14 more times in the face before attempting to bound her with duct tape and drag her away to rape her.
The woman McCue attacked was taken to a hospital in Boston and, as of Friday, was being treated for serious injuries.
McCue was arraigned in the Somerville District Court on Monday. He is charged with one count each of armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and kidnapping, as well as four counts of aggravated rape.
Prosecutor Spiros said in court that McCue confessed to his intention to harm or kill somebody when he left home on Friday.
"Before he purchased the coffee at the Dunkin' Donuts, he had left his apartment with the intention of hurting someone," Spiros explained. "He later indicated that he left the apartment with the intention to kill someone."
McCue will undergo mental health evaluation as his case progresses, in order to determine his competency and criminal responsibility.
Newsweek reached out to the Medford Police Department for comment.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
