MADISON (WKOW) -- A charging document revealed disturbing details in the Sept. 3 downtown assault of a UW-Madison student.
The woman was walking home from a friend’s house when investigators maintain Brandon Thompson, 26, attacked her on West Wilson Street near Bedford Street.
Prosecutors charged him with first-degree sexual assault, first-degree reckless injury and strangulation.
Officers said they found the victim naked, beaten and “covered in blood” near a home on West Wilson Street. A sergeant on scene called it “one of the most horrifying things I’ve seen.”
Medical professionals placed the woman in a medically induced coma and on a feeding tube. They told police her injuries were consistent with strangulation and rape.
A nurse said the woman's rape injuries were “one of the worst I’ve seen.”
The woman also had a grade two traumatic brain injury, a missing tooth, broken jaw, broken nose, facial fractures as well as bruising and cuts over much of her body.
The criminal complaint states Thompson told people in a home near the attack he found the bloodied and naked victim in the street and brought her behind the Wilson Street home.
He introduced himself by his first name, Brandon. The people in the home saw dried blood on Thompson's hands, according to the complaint.
When the people in the home saw the woman, they called the police. They said Thompson “became antsy” and left, saying he didn't want to be around police because he was “high."
Video from city cameras placed a vehicle, known to be Thompson’s, in downtown Madison in the early morning hours of the attack. Additionally, Fitchburg police pulled over Thompson shortly before the attack.
His image in their body camera footage matches the images on Madison city camera footage. Witnesses’ descriptions of Thompson on Wilson Street also match.
Detectives said they found Thompson at Meriter Hospital. When they interviewed him about the morning of the attack, he admitted to seeing a woman.
The complaint states he said he “saw red” and “didn’t know what was going on.” He said he “went into a rage” and when he came to “she was on the ground.”
When detectives asked Thompson if he could have assaulted her, Thompson said “I could have.”
The complaint stated the Wisconsin State Crime Lab analyzed DNA found on the victim from her sexual assault. It matched a single source of DNA consistent with a sample collected from Brandon Thompson with a probability of one in one quadrillion, which is the highest probability the lab will identify.
Thompson was given a $1 million cash bail on Thursday. He is scheduled to appear for a status conference on Sept. 25, according to Dane County Court records.
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