Aurora, Northbrook students suffered 'extreme torture'
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Six people accused of abducting and torturing two University of Rochester students from the Chicago suburbs until a SWAT team stormed in have been charged in a 32-count indictment that adds charges of sexual assault and weapons counts.
The grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday shows the "extreme torture" the two young men - one from Aurora and the other from Northbrook - endured during the 40-hour ordeal inside a Rochester, New York, house early last month, Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said. She declined to comment on a possible motive, saying the continuing investigation could lead to more arrests and charges.
"As far as the victims are concerned," Doorley said in a news release, "we know they are both very fortunate in that they were located by the good work of the (Rochester Police Department) SWAT team."
The three men and three women named in the indictment, all in their late teens or 20s, were arrested in December and pleaded not guilty to initial kidnapping charges. The grand jury indictment adds varying counts of assault, gang assault, sexual assault and weapons charges.
The victims, both college seniors, were reported missing Dec. 5, hours after they were last seen near the University of Rochester campus. The incident ended Dec. 6 when police determined they were being held in a house four miles away and sent in a SWAT team to rescue them. One of the victims had been shot in the leg.
The Associated Press is no longer identifying the students because it does not disclose the names of victims of sexual assault.
The indictment includes nine counts of predatory sexual assault against Dennis Perez and Lydell Strickland, who also are charged with multiple counts of gang assault, robbery, weapons possession and criminal use of a firearm.
Leah Gigliotti and Samantha Hughes are charged with kidnapping, assault and gang assault. Inalia Rolldan and David Alcaraz-Ubiles are charged with kidnapping and weapons counts. Alcaraz-Ubiles also is charged with assault. Arrested last, he is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 20.
The others are due in state Supreme Court in March.
Information about whether the suspects had retained lawyers who could comment on their behalf was unavailable from the court Wednesday.