GRAVETTE — Benton County deputies arrested Charles Alan Rickman, 30, in connection with the beating and rape of a 69-year-old woman in her home Tuesday in the area of Strawberry Ridge Road, officials said.
Deputies were called about 7:41 a.m. Tuesday to a report a sexual assault and arrested Rick-man on Thursday morning, Sheriff Shawn Holloway said.
The woman is in serious condition at a Northwest Arkansas hospital. Her specific injuries and how they were inflicted weren’t given.
There are no other suspects. The incident isn’t believed to be a random act, Holloway said.
Rickman also faces charges in connection with aggravated residential burglary, aggravated assault, kidnapping, terroristic threatening, tampering with physical evidence, theft of property and interference with emergency communication. He was being held in the Benton County Jail with no bond set Thursday.
The investigation is ongoing.
Prosecutor Nathan Smith said, “This is the type of case — the rape, the home invasion — that shocks the conscience. We live in a safe community, but these things do happen. We will be vigorous in our pursuit of justice.”