A man fearing something was wrong after receiving a “strange call” discovered a woman being sexually assaulted in a Lake Barrington business early Wednesday.
Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg credited the man with saving the 20-year-old woman’s life. “I firmly believe that the victim’s life was saved because of the gut feeling (he) had,” Idleburg said in a statement.
Ryan Storm, 20, of Palatine, was arrested hours later and charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual abuse, according to the sheriff’s office.
The judge set bond at $3 million during his initial court hearing Thursday.
Authorities said Storm cut off the victim’s clothes, urinated on her, tied her arms above her head and hanged her from a forklift. Storm allegedly threatened to snap the victim’s neck if she screamed, the sheriff’s office said.
Police were alerted that something was wrong when someone called 911 to report a “strange call” from Storm that prompted the caller to check on Storm’s wellbeing, police said.
The caller entered Storm’s workplace around 2 a.m. Wednesday in the 28000 block of Commercial Avenue and found him sexually assaulting the victim, police said.
Storm ran out, and the caller found a woman “bound to a piece of heavy equipment,” police said. The woman was taken to a hospital and was recovering.
Hours later, officers arrested Storm during a foot chase in Fox River Grove, police said.
