A victim in a serial rape case is frustrated after a Fayette County Circuit Court judge ruled Monday to lower the suspect’s bond.
At the hearing, Judge Julie Goodman stated that based on pretrial services’ findings that George Wayne Aldridge is a low flight risk and a low danger to the public, she legally had to lower his bond unless she herself found that he was a higher risk.
She ultimately found that Aldridge was not a flight risk and that with “certain restrictions,” he would not be a danger to the public. She ruled that Aldridge would need to pay $5,000 to be released, 10 percent of his previous $50,000 bond.
The victim who spoke to LEX 18 Tuesday disagreed.
“It’s extremely invalidating, upsetting and infuriating that this is the ruling that she made,” the victim told LEX 18. “I feel like she's allowing the possibility of a flight risk and for somebody to go out and possibly do this again.”
In Fayette County, Aldridge is charged with two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of kidnapping of an adult, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count of wanton endangerment.
He is accused of grabbing multiple female college students as they walked in Lexington, taking them to another location, and raping them between 2009 and 2016, according to court records and police testimony.
Aldridge is still awaiting trial and hasn’t been convicted of anything. But the victim who spoke to LEX 18 said she feels he should stay in jail until a jury decides.
“This is someone who was repeatedly abducting women, sexually assaulting them,” the woman said. “Abandoning them at different locations. This was premeditated. He did this repeatedly. What are we going to consider a danger if this is not?”
Aldridge’s defense team questioned the evidence in the case during Monday’s hearing.
“This entire case hinges on DNA, there’s just a lot that I, as of yet, do not know about that particular DNA, about that investigative process,” defense attorney Brooklynn Alcorn told the judge.
In a statement sent to LEX 18 Tuesday, Aldridge’s defense team said in part that Goodman followed the law in lowering Aldridge’s bond and that they were pleased with the decision.
“Under the law, Mr. Aldridge was eligible for a lower bond and the judge followed the law by weighing the evidence and arguments presented to her and granting a reduction,” they said in the statement.
At Monday’s hearing, prosecutors argued that the only reason Aldridge has no previous criminal history is that it took so long for him to get caught.
“Given the seriousness of the circumstances and the fact the defendant was exploiting vulnerable college students and raping them, he is a danger to the public,” prosecutor Kathryn Schafer said.
DNA evidence
A Lexington police detective testified at Monday’s hearing that in looking at a rape cold case several years ago, DNA taken from the rape kit was matched to five other cases. That DNA profile was then sent off to Parabon NanoLabs where a relatively new DNA technology, familial genetic genealogy, was used to produce a list of possible matches.
From there, investigators used the description given by two of the victims to narrow the list down to about 20 possible suspects and eventually down to Aldridge, the detective said. From there, detectives pulled trash put out in front of Aldridge’s home, and DNA found in the trash matched the DNA profile from the rape kits.
After Aldridge was arrested, investigators got a buccal swab and that DNA again matched the profile from the rape kits, the detective testified.
