Three women describe how they were sexually assaulted during third day of testimony at Rodhouse hearing – Muddy River News

WARNING: This story contains explicit descriptions of violence and graphic sexual content that may be considered profane, vulgar, or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

PITTSFIELD, Illinois — Much of the first two days of testimony in the Austin Rodhouse trial in Pike County Circuit Court centered around his wife and children, but a jury of eight women and four heard testimony from three women Thursday. They were sexually assaulted by Rodhouse.

Rodhouse, who turns 31 next month, is charged with 19 domestic violence and sex-related offences.

• A Class 2 aggravated domestic violence crime with a sentence range of 3 to 7 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
• 1st criminal sexual assault involving force, a Class 1 felony punishable by four to 15 years.
• 4 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault on a child, a Class X felony punishable by six to 60 years in prison.
• Three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison.
• 2 counts of child pornography, a Class X felony with a sentence ranging from six to 30 years.
• 3 counts of indecent harassment of an adult, a Class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in prison.
• Three counts of aggravated battery on a child, a Class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison.

Testimony at the hearing before Judge Charles H. W. Burch is expected to continue at 9 a.m. Friday. Rodhouse, a Pleasant Hill native, has denied all charges.

Each of the women who testified Thursday was in their 20s.

The first woman, referred to here as JaneDoe1, said she remembered seeing Rodhouse and her sister, Autumn, visiting the home of Austin’s father, Matt Rodhouse, when she was 6 or 7 years old. When Pike County State’s Attorney Walker Filbert asked if Rodhouse remembered any touching of a sexual nature, JaneDoe1 said he called it “Austin’s massages.”

He described the activity as Rodhouse “rubbing only private areas” on the outside of a woman’s clothing, going “from top to bottom”. She didn’t remember how many times Rodhouse gave her a “massage” and she didn’t remember if he ever put his hands inside her dress.

JaneDoe1 recalled going to another of Matt Rodhouse’s homes in Summer Hill when she was about 10 years old and watching Austin continue to give her “massages.”

During cross-examination by defense attorney Casey Schnack, JaneDoe1 said she could not remember when she first saw the massages or the room where the massages were performed.

“But you come here to court and you know for a fact that all this happened,” Schnack said.

“That’s what happened,” replied JaneDoe1.

A second woman, referred to here as JaneDoe2, said she traveled to Ohio to stay at a campground with friends in the summer of 2017 after ending a 3.5-year relationship with another man. On the site she met Rodhouse, who was 24 and seven years her senior, and had sex with him on their first or second meeting.

JaneDoe2 later learned that Rodhouse had another girlfriend at the campground “he didn’t want me to know.”

On her second trip to Ohio, JaneDoe2 visited Rodhouse at the campground and his other girlfriend was there, too. He tried to convince two women to have a threesome, but JaneDoe2 was against it.

“He kept bringing it up all night… until it happened,” JaneDoe2 said.

He said he drank wine coolers and vodka for several hours before agreeing to the trio. After that night, Rodhouse said he wanted to be in a relationship with both women — “a threesome,” JaneDoe2 said. He did not admit to this, but agreed to have consensual sex with her on several occasions.

Rodhouse tried to convince JaneDoe2 not to return to high school for her senior year, but she did. On September 2, 2017, he traveled to Pike County and met her at a local park and took her to the Green Acres Hotel in Pittsfield, where some of Rodhouse’s family members were present. The family members left and JaneDoe2 said she wanted to take a shower before going to a local football game.

While she was in the bathroom, Rodhouse also came in and said he wanted to have sex. When JaneDoe2 said no, he said he picked her up and laid her on the bathroom floor to have sex.

“Are you doing something romantic like kissing?” Assistant State’s Attorney Leecia Carnes asked.

“No, I was looking at the bathroom to my left,” JaneDoe2 said.

Rodhouse and JaneDoe2 went to the football game. She said they then drove around in Rodhouse’s truck and Rodhouse pulled his penis out of his pants and pushed his head into her lap, demanding oral sex. He said his head was stuck between his lap and the steering wheel and he was afraid he would damage the vehicle if he tried to move.

“What did you decide to do?” Carnes asked.

“Do it,” said JaneDoe2.

After that weekend, the relationship ended, he said, and they never saw each other again.

A third woman, referred to here as JaneDoe3, said she met Rodhouse through an ex-boyfriend and over Facebook Messenger about a year later in December 2021. She said Rodhouse gave her a ring at their first meeting at the McDonald’s in Quincy.

“He said he wouldn’t keep me waiting,” JaneDoe3 said.

He said he continued to see Rodhouse occasionally for several weeks after their first meeting. He said they would meet at his mother’s house. He said Rodhouse wanted to talk about BDSM, defined as a variety of erotic practices or role-playing games that often involve bondage, discipline, dominance and submission. During Schnack’s questioning, JaneDoe3 said Rodhouse described BDSM as a “love language.”

JaneDoe3 said she would change the subject when Rodhouse brought it up because “I had no interest or desire in doing that.”

He said Rodhouse came home one day while he was in the basement and his mother and stepfather were upstairs.

“He didn’t even take the time to ask me how my day was,” she said.

Instead, she claims Rodhouse forced her to have sex on the couch. He said he couldn’t talk. He said the two had never even kissed before.

“Did he say anything?” said Carnes.

“No,” said JaneDoe3.

Carnes asked JaneDoe3 if she had seen Rodhouse in the courtroom.

“I didn’t look around,” he said.

“Do you want to look around?” Carnes asked.

“Do I need to look around?” JaneDoe3 said.

Carnes said no.