A small Caroline County community was shaken by a rape of a 13-year-old girl--a rape police now say never happened.
Sheriff Homer Johnson said police still believe that a masked man grabbed and assaulted the girl Feb. 24 as she was walking her dog in woods near her home. But there was no rape, he said.
"I don't know why she told us what she did," Johnson said. "Maybe she was just confused about what rape really is."
The girl told police that she was on a trail near her home near Farmer's Drive in the Bowling Green area, not far from the state highway department office on State Route 2, when the attack took place about 5:30 p.m.
She said she was grabbed from behind, thrown down and raped. Her small dog barked throughout the attack, police said, but did not deter the masked suspect.
The girl told police that she saw the suspect's hands and it appeared that he was a white man. He didn't say anything during the attack, she said.
The girl, who had just turned 13, was taken to a Richmond hospital after reporting the incident. Johnson said Investigator B.P. Sullivan III recently talked to a forensic nurse at the hospital and learned there was no indication of a rape.
Sullivan then went to the child's home and talked to her and her mother. The girl admitted that she was not raped, but insisted that she was assaulted, Johnson said.
"This has been very upsetting to that whole community," Johnson said. "It's a pretty close-knit neighborhood."
Johnson said police are still looking for the alleged attacker. "It's still an open case. It's just not a rape case," he said.