Deputies have captured a Florida man wanted for brutally raping and attempting to murder a woman in Orange County.
The sheriff’s office says 54-year-old Bruce Whitehead was taken into custody at 7 a.m. Thursday.
According to deputies, Whitehead spent 20 years in prison for rape and attempted murder in the 1980s.
Around 4 a.m. on Dec. 10, the sheriff’s office received the call after the victim escaped the man.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the victim had met Whitehead at a business.
Investigators said afterward, the two traveled to different locations, and Whitehead pulled out a weapon at one of the stops.
“At one of the stops they made, Whitehead presented a weapon and threatened to harm her if she did not comply with his demands,” Corporal Evan Avila of the OCSO Sex Crimes Unit said.
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“After he sexually battered her, he attempted to murder our victim. At that point, our victim bravely fought him off and was able to escape to a nearby subdivision,” Avila said.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the woman is expected to recover and has been provided with resources.
Investigators were able to identify and make contact with the suspect’s vehicle, leading them to identify Whitehead as the suspect.
“Some of the charges we are seeking him for are armed kidnapping, armed sexual battery and attempted murder,” Avila said.
“At the sheriff’s office, we do believe him to be a danger to the community, which is why we have reached out to the citizens of central Florida in an effort to bring him in so that he doesn’t harm somebody else,” Avila said.
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