UW-Madison student assaulted and sexually assaulted; man pleads guilty

MADISON, Wis. – The man accused of “brutally” and sexually assaulting a University of Wisconsin student last September pleaded guilty Thursday.

Prosecutors charged Brandon Thompson, 27, with first-degree sexual assault, first-degree reckless injury and strangulation. Thanks to his plea, he will avoid trial. His sentencing is scheduled for February 2025.

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Case Details

Police said the victim, a woman in her 20s, was “brutally assaulted” and “severely beaten” in downtown Madison on September 3, 2023. Prosecutor William Brown called it ” pretty brutal rape” at the time the charges were filed.

According to Madison police, the victim was found near Wilson and Bedford streets — about a half-mile from the Kohl Center — around 3:20 a.m. that day. The first police officer on the scene described the victim’s condition as “one of the most horrible things I have seen,” according to a criminal complaint.

The victim was rushed to hospital as his life was in danger. The complaint states the victim suffered “head trauma” and was initially placed in a medically induced coma. Her jaw was broken, her eyes were swollen and she had “serious” lacerations. A nurse believed the victim had been strangled and described the sexual assault case as “one of the worst I’ve seen.”

Four days after the attack, the victim remained hospitalized on a feeding tube, unable to communicate.

The complaint says a man named “Brandon” told residents in the area that the victim needed help. He told a witness that he found the victim in the street but did not want to be present when police arrived because he was under the influence of alcohol. He then left the scene. Another witness said he saw the man had dried blood on his hands. Police later identified the man as Thompson.

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“Our investigation revealed that Thompson was at the crime scene, as testified by a witness during our initial investigation,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. “Thompson told this witness that he had just ‘found’ our survivor, posing as an innocent bystander.”

Another witness told police, according to the complaint, that the victim was at his apartment the night before the attack. That witness said she sent a text message at 2:43 a.m. asking if the victim had gotten home safely, but never heard back. The witness also said the victim was “not a party person or a drug user.”

Police said video evidence played a key role in identifying Thompson, along with witness statements and biological evidence. Given that the victim did not respond to the text message and witness statements, the attack is believed to have occurred around 2:40 a.m.

Surveillance showed the victim near Park and Washington around 2:25 a.m. and a Chevrolet sedan parked near Brittingham Park around the same time. A man got out of the car and began walking toward Washington Avenue. The victim continued walking on Washington Avenue toward Bedford Street, and the complaint says surveillance showed her walking past an apartment building on Bedford Street with someone following her around 2:37 a.m.

Around 3 a.m., the Chevrolet was seen leaving Brittingham Park and heading toward the Washington and Bedford area. That video captured the car’s license plate, the complaint states.

Investigators learned that a Fitchburg police officer stopped the same car around 1:20 a.m. the morning of the attack, and the officer’s body camera footage showed the driver, Thompson, wearing the same clothes as the man who had gotten out of the car at Brittingham. Park and walk towards Washington Avenue. Thompson was later arrested at a hospital and made “incriminating statements.”

Thompson in custody

When speaking to police, the complaint says Thompson said he was angry and “wanted to punch something.” He admitted to meeting a woman, “seeing red” and “not knowing what was happening”. The next thing he remembers, according to the complaint, is that the woman was on the ground in front of him and “she ran into a monster.” He said he did not remember the sexual assault, but that he “went into a rage.” When asked if he could have sexually assaulted the victim, Thompson replied, “I could have.”

Forensic analysis compared Thompson’s DNA to a unique source of “alien male” DNA found on the victim. That DNA was “consistent with the profile of Brandon Thompson,” the complaint states, with a “probability of one quadrillion over one quadrillion” — noted as the “highest probability the Wisconsin State Crime Lab will identify.”

Wisconsin court records indicate Thompson has no criminal history and police said there is no known connection between Thompson and the victim.