Sex offender twice accused of strangling victims – including 7-year-old girl

Twice now, Corbin Breitenbach has been accused of strangling females – one of them a 7-year-old girl – into unconsciousness and sexually assaulting them.

The first time was in 2012 – a crime in Sedgwick County involving a 22-year-old victim for which Breitenbach went to prison in 2013.

Now, six weeks after he left prison for that crime, the registered sex offender is charged with strangling a 7-year-old girl during a brutal attack at a west Wichita condo where she was staying for the night. According to jail records, Breitenbach is 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds.

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged Breitenbach with attempted capital murder, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated burglary. If convicted, the 23-year-old would face life in prison.

Reading from the attempted capital murder charge, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said it is alleged that Breitenbach removed the girl from a bedroom, strangled her to unconsciousness, took her to an outdoor balcony and had sexual intercourse. The aggravated sodomy charge is based partly on the child’s age; the aggravated burglary charge involves the allegation that Breitenbach went into the condo on North Smith Court with the intent to rape or sodomize the girl.

The victim and defendant didn’t know each other, Bennett said in brief comments after Breitenbach’s first court appearance on Tuesday.

Bennett said he saw the girl on Tuesday and that she is doing “better” and has been out of the hospital for days.

As the prosecutor, Bennett said, he can’t comment at this point on evidence.

Judge Jeff Goering told Breitenbach on Tuesday that his bond will remain at $1 million. Wearing orange jail garb, Breitenbach asked the judge to repeat the bond amount.

The crimes occurred around 2:40 a.m. on June 11 in a second-floor apartment in the 1400 block of North Smith Court, near 13th and Zoo. The condo where the girl was attacked is directly across a small courtyard from where Breitenbach’s girlfriend lives.

According to the sex offender registry, Breitenbach was living at a Derby address. His girlfriend told The Eagle on Friday that he was in bed with her at her apartment the morning of the attack.

On his financial affidavit filed with the court in the new criminal case against him, Breitenbach listed the Derby address and said he worked at Joe’s Car Wash and made $800 a month. He put that he lives with his mother and grandmother and doesn’t own a vehicle.

Police said the suspect came into the apartment where the girl was – without forcing entry and without permission – assaulted her and left. The child was heard yelling that she had been attacked, according to emergency radio traffic.

Police arrested Breitenbach on Thursday after an intensive investigation.

The fiance of the woman who was sexually battered and choked by Breitenbach in 2012 has described the attack to The Eagle. He said he was at work when the attack happened. He found his then-girlfriend unconscious on a bed.

When she came to, she couldn’t walk and started crying. The last thing she remembered, the fiance said, was Breitenbach coming up to her, putting her in a chokehold and squeezing her neck until she passed out.

Breitenbach was convicted in that case in March 2013. He received the maximum sentence of 68 months. He was released on parole on April 28 after incurring 32 prison disciplinary reports.

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Sex offender twice accused of strangling victims – including 7-year-old girl."