An Augusta man’s alleged kidnapping, rape and aggravated molestation of a 15-year-old he took from Pleasant Home Road has made its way to trial.
The alleged victim, now 18, was the lead witness against Bill Eugene Anderson in a first day of testimony Tuesday in Richmond County Superior Court.
Anderson, 62, was indicted for rape, kidnapping, child molestation, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy and kidnapping in the July 2, 2020 incident. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The victim, the eldest child of a homeschooled family, testified she snuck out of the house wearing no shoes that morning to meet a friend in the Montclair subdivision, but the friend couldn’t make it.
She was walking toward home when Anderson pulled up, reeking of alcohol.
“He told me to get in the car, and he told me he had a gun,” she testified. “I just froze.”
Although she soon realized Anderson did not have a gun, he sped away with her in the black sedan, warning her to tell police she was his daughter if they were pulled over.
After a couple of stops to try to fix a flat tire, Anderson took the victim to a room at the Executive Inn and Suites in the 1200 block of Gordon Highway, she said in sobbing testimony.
When she tried to resist, Anderson grabbed her arm and screamed obscenities, words she would not repeat in the courtroom, she said. In the room, he raped and sodomized her.
There was a knock at the door.
The motel’s owner told Anderson he was about to tow his car, Augusta Assistant District Attorney William Hammond said in opening arguments Tuesday. It gave the victim a chance to escape, and she did, Hammond said.
Running to a nearby gas station, she begged passers-by for help. “She was pleading, begging for her life, she was so terrified,” Hammond said.
Ignored or scorned by some, she found a grandfather-and-son pair of good samaritans who took her to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, Hammond said.
Hammond and Anderson’s defense attorney, Khary Talley, each said the case was about bad decisions.
They included Anderson’s decision to pick up the victim, Talley said.
But no gun was found, the victim had chances to escape and the case lacks conclusive DNA evidence, Talley said.
Anderson is “not an angel, he’s not perfect. Don’t take his anger as a sign of guilt, because it’s not,” he said.
“When you look like Bill and you sound like Bill, people have preconceived notions.”
Anderson has a history of drug and alcohol charges in the local court system, including multiple DUIs and drug possession charges for which he received probation or orders to seek treatment, according to court records. He had just been assigned to drug court for cocaine possession when he was arrested in this case.
Jury selection lasted a day and a half. Multiple prospective jurors, such as the mother of two teen daughters, said they would have difficulty being objective after learning what charges Anderson faces.
