Authorities seek rape suspect

Authorities continue to search for a man suspected of sexually assaulting a female victim in a Waffle House parking lot this past October.On Tuesday, June 2, the Platte County Prosecutor charged 33-year-old Benton Wiggins with felony rape and leaving the scene of the motor vehicle accident. He’s described as a 6-foot-2 black male weighing about 250 pounds, and his listed address is 4401 E. 56th St. in Kansas City, Mo.Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call the TIPS hotline at (816) 474-8477. According to court documents, the victim gave a statement to Kansas City (Mo.) Police, while Wiggins gave a vastly different account to a witness. Surveillance footage from a local bar near NW Barry Road where they met at the Waffle House located off of NW Tiffany Springs Parkway back the victim’s story, according to a probable cause statement. Wiggins and the victim left the bar in the early morning hours of Oct. 23, 2014 and went to eat at the Waffle House along with another male. After finishing eating, Wiggins agreed to drive the male to his home in Independence, Mo. and brought the victim along for the ride. They then returned to the Waffle House parking lot where Wiggins pulled up next to the victim’s vehicle. According to the victim, Wiggins pushed her up against the inside of the door and took off her pants before having sex with her. She told him stop and attempted to flee the vehicle. Wiggins then allegedly pushed her out of the vehicle and told her to leave. The victim said she realized that her purse and cell phone were still in the vehicle Wiggins was driving, which belonged to the friend dropped off earlier in the night. She drove after him on southbound Interstate 29 at a high-rate of speed. Wiggins attempted to exit at Gateway Avenue toward Riverside, Mo. but lost control of the vehicle and spun out. The victim then ran her car into his vehicle. He drove back onto I-29 and exited at Parvin Road in Clay County, Mo. where the victim managed to block in his vehicle. According to the probable cause statement, Wiggins opened the door and asked the victim if “she wanted to get shot” and punched her three times before fleeing the scene. A witness then called 911. In a later interview with police, the owner of the vehicle Wiggins was driving confirmed that the victim and Wiggins met at the bar that night. He said that Wiggins later contacted him and claimed to have “scratched his car,” but the owner found it to have more significant damage. Wiggins allegedly told him that he had sex with the victim in the car before her boyfriend showed up and threatened him with a gun. He claimed the wreck happened in the process of fleeing. A few weeks after the incident, Wiggins contacted authorities and requested time to take care of some active arrest warrants before providing them with a statement. He did not contact them again for four days, and the owner of the car Wiggins previously wrecked later told them that Wiggins had fled the state. Wiggins’ bond has been set at $150,000, and the warrant for his arrest was issued on Wednesday, June 3.