A man charged in two violent sexual assaults on consecutive days last year is competent to stand trial, the San Diego District Attorney's office said.
Jeremiah Williams, 24, is accused of two attacks on two separate victims: an Aug. 13, 2016 assault in University City and an assault one day later at a Motel 6, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Capt. Brian Ahearn said.
Williams previously pleaded not guilty to fourteen separate sex charges, as well as charges of assault with a firearm, making criminal threats and more.
On Wednesday, Williams was found mentally competent to stand trial, the DA's office said.
After an extensive two-month-long manhunt by multiple law enforcement agencies across California, Illinois, Arizona and Texas, Williams was arrested on Oct. 27, 2016 in Tolleson, Az.
Williams was identified as the suspect in both cases early on.
According to police, physical evidence from the scene of the University City sex assault linked Williams as the suspect. In this assault, a woman was attacked at the Venetian Condominiums in the 3900 block of Nobel Drive after she was dropped off at the complex by a friend.
It was 10:30 p.m. and, as the woman walked to her apartment, she felt as if someone was following her, police said.
Before the victim could unlock the door to her home, Williams allegedly knocked her to the ground and demanded money at gunpoint. After giving him money, the woman was dragged into her apartment where police said she was beaten and sexually assaulted.
Three days after that attack, SDPD officers were called to Sharp Memorial Hospital for a report of another assault.
In that case, a 23-year-old woman told police she had been violently sexually assaulted on Aug. 14, 2016 at a Motel 6 located at 4380 Alvarado Canyon Road in Mission Valley.
"The suspect, who she had recently met, entered her room choked and sexually assaulted her and then hit her in the head with a handgun," Ahearn said.
Sex crimes detectives went to the motel and collected evidence. During their investigation, detectives learned that officers had been called out to the incident at the motel on Aug. 14, 2016, at 10:45 p.m. The call had come in as a man hitting a woman.
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That night, witnesses told police they heard the victim yell for help, and saw a suspect flee on foot. The Motel 6 manager told NBC 7 that the victim smashed a window in the room and drove off in a car before police arrived at the scene.
In a strange twist, the SDPD said officers with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) had detained Williams that night, after the incident at the motel, for possession of a firearm. He was cited for a firearm violation and released.
Back at Motel 6, officers found a crime scene, but no victim.
It wasn't until Aug. 17, when the victim went to Sharp Memorial Hospital and reported the assault, that investigators linked the victim to the Motel 6 incident. The woman's description of her attacker matched the description of the man accused in the University City assault.
During the investigation, through physical evidence and victim interviews, detectives identified Williams as the suspect in both cases.
Investigators launched a manhunt for Williams, and warned the public that the suspect was considered armed and dangerous. He was arrested months later.
Williams has a criminal background in California and Texas.
Williams will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 13. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Anyone with information on these cases can call the SDPD's Sex Crimes Unit at (619) 531-2210.
