Emergency radio recording gives new info on sex assault of 7-year-old

A recording of emergency radio traffic provides more information about the brutal sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl in a west Wichita apartment where she was staying.

Police on Wednesday also renewed their plea to the public for help in solving the crime.

Meanwhile, the initial police report in the intensive investigation says the attack was reported at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday – 30 minutes after police say the crime occurred. County spokeswoman Kate Flavin confirmed Wednesday that the 911 call came at 3:10 a.m. Police have said the crime occurred at 2:40 a.m.

Why there is a 30-minute span between when police say the crime occurred and when it was reported to the emergency dispatch system is not clear.

One of the apartment building residents told The Eagle that her neighbor on the second floor knocked on her door early Sunday morning and said she needed to use her phone to call 911.

Around 3:15 a.m., a woman can be heard on emergency radio traffic giving the address of a second-floor apartment in the 1400 block of North Smith Court, near 13th and Zoo Boulevard.

The woman, apparently a dispatcher, relayed that the caller said that girls were spending the night and that a 7-year-old woke up yelling that someone sexually assaulted her.

The person reporting the attack at the apartment said there was “blood outside and inside,” the dispatcher said.

The archived recording of the emergency radio traffic comes from Broadcastify.com.

The initial police report available to the media classifies the attack as a rape and gives a brief description, saying a person “reports S1 (suspect) entering home without permission and sexually assaulting the girl ... causing visible injuries.” The girl was taken by ambulance to a hospital and was to receive a sexual assault examination, the report says.

The girl remained in the hospital on Wednesday, more than three days after she was injured. A police spokeswoman said she didn’t know the girl’s condition.

Police have referred to the attacker as an “unknown suspect” and have given this description: white male, clean-shaven, light-colored hair and wearing jeans and an unknown type of shirt.

Sgt. Nikki Woodrow, the department spokeswoman, made a new plea to the public on Wednesday for tips that might help solve the crime. She said people might have seen something that didn’t seem significant to them but could help investigators. For example, Woodrow said, that could be a car someone noticed parked beside I-235, which runs near the apartments. It could be something someone saw blocks from the crime scene, as far away as Central, Woodrow said.

The investigation continues “around the clock,” she said. Police have fanned out in a “very large radius” around the apartments, looking for surveillance video and contacting and re-contacting businesses and residents, including around the busy area of 13th and West streets.

People with information are asked to call the Exploited and Missing Child Unit at 316-660-9494 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 or leave a tip at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

Crime Stoppers also can be reached at www.wichitasedgwickcountycrimestoppers.com or on the P3 Tips mobile application. Those tips are anonymous and can lead to a cash reward.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Emergency radio recording gives new info on sex assault of 7-year-old."