Torrance woman tells harrowing rape by alleged attacker hours after being released from prison – Orange County Register

Marissa Young spent 25 agonizing minutes in a dark, deserted Torrance park against a rapist who repeatedly punched her in the face with such force that both of her front teeth flew out of her mouth and landed in the grass several feet away.

During the intense life-and-death struggle in the early hours of July 31, Darrell Dean Waters, 46, of Los Angeles, allegedly wrapped his hands around Young’s neck, choked her until she almost passed out, and then brutally bit her in the chest, forcing her to orally copulate him.

And when she cried out for help, he reportedly taunted her, sadistically asking, “Nobody’s coming for you, are they?

Though the Southern California News Group doesn’t typically name victims of sexual assault, Young, 44, agreed to be identified and publicly share her harrowing story of survival.

“There’s really no reason to remain anonymous,” she said in an interview this week. “I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Released from prison hours before the attack

Waters was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. on July 29 for possession of a dagger or dagger, a knife or other instrument that can be used as a stabbing weapon. Ron Salary, a spokesman for the Torrance Police Department, said Tuesday.

He was released from custody of his own accord less than three hours later, as it was not clear whether the case would be pursued by the Torrance City Attorney’s Office or the Los Angeles County Attorney’s Office, which tends to refuse to keep them charged with nonviolent crimes in prison,Salary said.

The district attorney’s office said in a statement Tuesday it had no role or say in Waters’ release, adding that all offenses in Torrance would be handled by the district attorney’s office. City prosecutors have taken on the dagger-and-dagger case against Waters.

It’s unfair to blame the DA or the Torrance City Attorney’s Office for Waters’ release, said Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, a union that represents Los Angeles County prosecutors.

Release not uncommon

“The California Constitution requires courts to consider public safety when setting bail,” he said. “Recently, that requirement has been watered down by courts, legislators and some prosecutors. However, when it comes to misdemeanors, historically few defendants have ever been held in custody.”

As of March 2017, the latest statistics available, less than 1% of the detention center’s inmates were there for misdemeanor crimes, Siddall said.

Young believes more needs to be done to ensure longer incarcerations for those arrested on gun charges like Waters.

“If he had been in prison, what happened to me wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I could have been murdered.”

The work shift ended after midnight

Young’s ordeal began around 12:30 a.m. on July 31. She arrived at her apartment after a waiter’s shift at a restaurant in Redondo Beach’s Riviera Village.

Young gathered her two dogs — a terrier mix and a dachshund mix — for a late-night walk a block away at a Nova Community Church park on the 4300 block of Emerald Street.

The park was normally teeming with other dog walkers and cars in the parking lot, but at this late hour it was desolate.

Young said she and her dogs were walking about 100 feet toward a trash can when Waters grabbed her from behind and violently threw her to the ground.

hit back

She fought back but was overpowered due to her small stature.

“He had me on my head and he was choking me,” Young said. “He hit me hard. He tried to force me into oral copulation, but I bit down on his penis as hard as I could. He said, ‘You got me good bitch’.”

Young recalled one of her dogs licking the blood from her mouth as she was being raped and beaten. She asked Waters if he would kill her, but he said no. Then he loosened his death grip and sauntered into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Young ran to the first house she could find and banged on the front door. A startled woman who responded initially refused to let Young in, but relented after seeing her horrific injuries.

Police arrested Waters on Aug. 1 about two miles from the park near South Inglewood Avenue and 190th Street on the border of Redondo Beach and Torrance, Young said.

Waters was charged with violent rape, violent oral copulation, and violent sexual penetration. He remains in the Los Angeles County Jail without bail. Officials say he was also convicted of robbery in 1994.

Gascón: Victim showed ‘incredible courage’

The violent attack in Torrance sent shockwaves through the South Bay, District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

“The victim showed incredible courage in this case,” he said. “This horrific attack could have ended even more tragically had it not been for her tremendous will.”

Despite Gascón’s praise, Young is still suffering residual damage from an attack she describes as “life-changing.”

She has undergone four reconstructive surgeries to fix her broken and missing teeth, and is also receiving psychiatric therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.