The man accused in a brazen sexual assault in Greenwood made his initial court appearance via video conference from the Johnson County Jail. Shawn Corbally has been convicted of rape before, back in 2000.
He was released in February. The Johnson County Prosecutor's Office says they have 72 hours to connect him to the this latest case of sexual assault and file formal charges against him.
"But to the extent that we are going to do everything, cross every 't' and dot every 'i' to make sure he is not released back out to the public," said Johnson County Prosecutor Bradley Cooper. "We will be reviewing the whole thing trying to get all the formal charges we can get on file as soon as we can."
According to the formal probable cause, Corbally woke the victim up on July 29th with "his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat." The report said Corbally then threatened the victim's 9-year-old child, saying, "this is not a joke, do what I want or I will kill the kid."
The victim did what she was told. She said Corbally then raped her, keeping a knife on her at all times. The incident ended only after a witness said he saw Corbally "leading a naked female through the grass behind the apartments."
The witness said when Corbally saw him, Corbally let go of the woman and took off.
The night before Corbally was arrested, a dive team searched a retention pond near an area where he was staying.
They were looking for the knife the victim said Corbally used to threaten her. The knife was not found, but the suspect's picture appeared to be proof enough. Corbally's accuser and the people living in the house Corbally tried to break into both recognized him.
"In both instances, on separate occasions, both victims pointed him out and said that is the person," said Greenwood Assistant Police Chief Matthew Fillenwarth.
Police were confident they had the right man behind bars.
"We believe he did it, otherwise we would not have made the arrest," said Fillenwarth.
The Johnson County Prosecutor's office now has three days to bring formal charges against Shawn Corbally.
"We will have him charged, yes," said Cooper. "The deadline is not going to be a problem, we will have him charged long before that."
For his first rape conviction Corbally got a 25-year sentence. Cooper says formal charges could be filed as early as the end of this week.
