PIKE: First week of Rodhouse trial concludes

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By BETH ZUMWALT

The trial of Austin Rodhouse,30, of Pleasant Hill, the man originally charged with 48 charges ranging from predatory criminal sex assault, criminal sexual assault involving force, criminal sexual assault of a child involving force, child pornography, involuntary servitude of a minor, indecent solicitation of a adult, aggravated battery to a child, unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. Some of those charges involved differing counts and most were anywhere from a Class 4 felony to a Class X felony.

Prior to the trial starting, the state dropped several charges and at the trial’s beginning, Rodhouse is now facing 19 charges; three counts of aggravated battery, three counts of aggravated domestic battery, three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of child pornography, two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, one for each child, two counts of indecent solicitation of an adult, one count of criminal sexual assault. All of the remaining charges carry anywhere between four years to 47 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

When asked why the other charges were dropped, Pike County State’s Attorney Walker Filbert said all he could say was to streamline the case.

Jury selection started Monday Oct. 28 with more than 100 jurors called for jury duty. By end of day a jury of four men and eight women had been chosen. Tuesday morning started with the selection of four alternates and those were chosen by late morning.

Opening statements started at 1 p.m.

Pike County Assistant State’s Attorney Lecia Carnes delivered the opening statement for the prosecution.

She told the jury of some of the things Rodhouse allegedly did to his wife and children. Her presentation was graphic.

Casey Schnack, Rodhouse’s attorney delivered the opening for the defense.

Schnack talked of free will asked the jury to make their determination on the evidence.

“You have to believe in the creditability of CC, ( Rodhouse’s wife and alleged victim) who is a self admitted child predator, child abuser and a liar,” Schnack said.

Tuesday, Oct. 29 Please note testimony does not follow the same timeline of events.

The first witness was a child protective specialist with the Department of  Children and Family Services, Stacy Bucher.

She testified she received a call, May 6 after 5 p.m. that there was a case of child abuse in Pleasant Hill.

“The call didn’t sound like an emergency, so, we decided to investigate the next day,” Bucher said.

But, then she said several more calls came in alleging domestic abuse and a environment of neglect.

As more calls me in stating the mother of the children was allegedly drugged and forced to engage in sexual abuse of the children, she made the decision to investigate.

She said she called the Pike County Sheriff’s Office to request a deputy go with her to Blessing Hospital where the victim was a patient.

CC had been admitted to Blessing after visiting the emergency room at Pike County Hospital in Louisiana the previous Saturday and the ER at Illini earlier that day. Pike County Memorial diagnosed her as dehydrated and having a UTI,  while Illini, three days later preformed an MRI at the request of her regular doctor and found a ruptured spleen with internal bleeding.

“We called  the PCSD and reached Chief Deputy Zack Orr, who told us he had too many open cases at the time and that we needed to call Illinois State Police Trooper Jordan Gerard,” Bucher said.

On cross examination, Schnack reiterated that anyone can make a call to DCFS, whether it be for an emergency or non emergence situation. Boucher agreed.

Schnack asked it it was protocol to take law enforcement with her when investigation a case.

“When there is an allegation of criminal action, we do,” Bucher said..

Jordan Gerard was next to take the stand.

He said he and Bucher went to Blessingi and found CC in a room . Rodhouse was with her.

“First I talked to Dr. Pierre Charles who told me CC’s injuries were not consistent with the story both Rodhouse and CC were telling, although according to Dr. Charles, Rodhouse did most of the talking, refusing to let CC talk. Their story was she fell in the bathtub.

Gerard said he asked two ISP troopers who had accompanied him to Blessing to remove Rodhouse from the building and after they left, he asked CC how she got hurt. She repeated the fall story.

“I could tell she was scared,” Gerard said. “I asked if I could look at her phone an she said I could.”xx

Gerard said he explained why he and DCFS were there, they were looking into allegations of abuse, He said they told her they didn’t believe her story of a fall and that she was safe.

“That’s when she said Austin kicked her when she was on the ground,” Gerard said. “I called the troopers who had taken Austin from the hospital and told them to place him under arrest. And to seize his phones. He had two, a personal phone and a business phone.”

Gerard said he also called Orr and asked him to get a search warrant for the Rodhouse home in Pleasant Hlll and to seize any and all electronics, cameras or electronic accessories.

Schnack asked Gerard if he had any occasion to observe CC as she was only one to one and half hours out of surgery and on pain meds.

“She gave us permission to speak with her,” Gerard said. “She did not appear to be under any influence of medication.”

Wednesday Oct. 30

The first witness of the day was Jared Sample who did the analysis on CC and Austin’s phone plus a lap top and an I-Pad found in the residence.

Some of the messages were text, some were Instagram and others were Snap-Chat which is to deleted messages after a few minutes.

“But, the companies that own these media platforms keep the messages for longer than the sender and the viewer can see,” Carnes said. Sample agreed.

Some of the exchanges between CC and Rodhouse were photos which were graphic.

Some showed CC with black eyes and other injures as well as numerous tattoos and piercings.

Schnack said that it was not uncommon for married couples to engage in extreme saddistic sex and Sample ageeed.

Summer-Rodhouse-Crowder was the next witness for the prosecution. She is Rodhouse’s aunt and a nurse. She testified that Austin called her May 4 and asked her to come to his house as CC had passed out.

She said she was at her son’s ball practice and couldn’t leave, but, Rodhouse could bring CC there.

She said Austin and CC showed up in his truck and she immediately knew something was wrong.

“She was very lethargic, her heart tones were faint, I was unable to get a blood pressure reading,” Crowder said. “I told him she needed an ambulance. He said he could take her faster and they sped out of the parking lot.”

The visit to Pike County Memorial resulted in a diagnosis of a UTI, but, CC, was advised to follow up with her regular doctor. A few days later she did and he insisted on an MRI and sent her to Illini.Once the ruptured spleen diagnoses was determined, it was deemed CC should go to Quincy for surgery. Repairing a ruptured spleen is not a procedure done at Illini. Upon arrival at Blessing, the staff there  began to question the story of her suffering a fall.

Shortly after CC’s surgery, Gerard and Emily Maulding, an ISP crime scene investigator,arrived at Blessing. They both testified it took some coaxing to get CC to talk to them. Rodhouse had been escorted from the room.

Maulding testified she took pictures of CC’s body and observed tattoos, a swollen finger, bruises, a bad wound in the healing stages on the back of her head. Her tattoos were on her face, neck, chest, inside her thighs,  pubic area, on her buttocks, labia, lower legs.

Brandy Palmer, a sexual assault nurse examiner, testified to much of the same.

Orr was the next witness. He came with an envelope and a box full of evidence.

He testified that Gerard asked him to get a search warrant for electronics and he did. As he searched the Rodhouse home, he said he and several other law enforcement officers found a trunk or chest type container. When they opened it to check for electronics they found dozens of sex toys.

“I called Jordan and told him what we had found,” Orr said. “He told me to get another search warrant, because the one we had was only for electronics.”

Orr also confiscated was a wooden tire thumper, the kind used by truckers to check tires and books in submissive training and on the topic of BDSM (Bind, Dominate, Submission and Sadism). It is alleged in the charging documents that Rodhouse used the tire thumper and struck CC about the body and in the back of her head, leaving a gaping, untreated gash, that was discovered by hospital personnel on her admission.

Thursday, Oct.31

Dr. Robert Thomas, an emergency room doctor at Illini testified he had immediate concerns about abuse when he first encountered the Rodhouses when they first visited Illini. He said he asked about the bruises and was told they were the result of rough sex. He said CC never made eye contact and never answered any of his questions, Rodhouse did all of the talking. He said there was inconsistency in the couple’s time line.

Schnack asked if CC appeared to be in writhing pain and Thomas said no, but, it was obvious she was uncomfortable.

The next three witnesses were former girlfriends of Rodhouse’s who all testified he had been charming and sweet at first, but, then became controlling and demanding. All indicated they had been forced into sexual activity they were not comfortable with. They all said they terminated their relationship with Rodhouse and not always easily.

Dr Eric Finn Thompson was the next witness. He said he was brought into the case because he is a hand specialist and CC had a badly broken finger. He said it was not a fresh break and the break had done significant damage to the joint. It has been alleged that Rodhouse put CC’s finger in a vice and broke it as a form of discipline.

The admitting nurse at Blessing testified and her testimony matched the rest of the medical professionals who had testified. That Rodhouse would not let CC answer questions or would he leave her side. He also did not want her put into a hospital gown.

Scnack asked if it was common for a spouse to answer questions when the other spouse was in pain and the nurse said it was.

Rodhouse’s mother, was the next witness. She said when she first met CC, when was a bubbly, beautiful girl, but, starting in July 2023 she began to see changes. She said she received messages from CC’s phone that she knew were not from CC, but, from Austin, because she could tell by the words used.

She said CC called her one time and said Rodhouse had hit her. She said she called the Pike County Illinois Sheriff’s Office and then started there from her Elsberry, Mo. home. She said while enroute, Austin called her and told her not to come, she was not welcome on his property. She said she was not supporting the family and was going to cut her out. She said they were estranged for several months and then reconciled, but, were not close. She said Austin and CC loved to talk about their sex life, but, she knew Austin always liked to shock her.

“I could tell by her body language that she wanted to say something but couldn’t,” said the mother. “I saw darkness under her eyes, a brace on her finger and she was limping. He hair was cut off and she had a blank look in her eyes.”

Schnack asked about the divorce between her and Austin’s father and how Austin, who was 3-4 years old at the time, stayed with his dad, while his two sisters went with their mother.She also testified how CC’s parents from Ohio came to visit once and Austin would not allow them on his property. He did allow CC’s sister to visit, but, not the parents.

Jordan Gerard, the lead investigator on the case testified much of Thursday afternoon about requesting a third search warrant for the Rodhouse home and finding prescription medication issued to people who were not living in the house, a broken cattle prod, a rope hanging from a rafter in a unfinished part of the home along with other items of interest.

Friday Nov. 1

Dr. Steven Liesen, a dentist from Barry, testified about being called to look at CC. He did ex-rays and found she badly needed dental care and had an untreated  broken lower jaw that showed some calcification, meaning it wasn’t a new injury.

Another female with connections to Rodhouse testified how he had raped her when she was around 10 and he was 13-14.

Upon cross examination from Schnack, the witness was asked if she remembered certain things. She said she did not. She said she had blocked a lot of it out.

“Did you block out when you do drugs,” Schnack asked. The witness emphatically said she did not do drugs.

“And even if I did, I didn’t do drugs in the fourth grade,” she said.

Schnack pressed and the witness finally admitted she had abused her prescription medication that she took for depression, but, has been clean for more than one year after successfully completing a rehabilitation program.

Erika Glaus, an investigator with the Illinois State Police Major Crimes Unit, testified Friday afternoon and read a transcript of messages between Rodhouse and CC, many accompanied by photos. The photos and the verbiage was explicit about what Rodhouse expected of CC. The talk also revolved around CC experimenting with sex with the couple’s oldest child and how she could best achieve it.

Friday was the longest day of court as Glas’s testimony took several hours and court recessed shortly after her testimony.

Court was to reconvene Monday, Nov. 4 with no court scheduled for Nov. 5 due to the election and the courthouse being closed.

The prosecution is expected to wrap up soon with the defense presenting their case mid to late week.

A total of 57 witnesses are on the witness list although it is unknown if all of them will be called. The victim was expected to testify Monday, Nov. 4.