In August 2010, police in Kosciusko and Whitley counties were called to investigate one of the most bizarre cases this area has even seen. On Wednesday, the man believed to be responsible for holding a woman and her young child against their will and sexually assaulting the woman, will appear in court.

Bill Warren, 38, of North Manchester, has been charged with 27 felonies including criminal confinement, strangulation, sexual battery, battery resulting in serious injury to a person under the age of 14, intimidation, theft and resisting law enforcement. He is set to appear in Kosciusko Superior Court 1 on Wednesday for a final pre-trial hearing.

According to records of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and court documents, Warren and a 26-year-old female acquaintance met at around midnight on the night of Monday, Aug. 30, 2010, near State Roads 13 and 14. The woman brought her 3-year-old daughter to the meeting.

Warren allegedly threatened the woman with a box cutter then locked her and her child in the trunk of his car before driving to a secluded in Kosciusko County, near the Kosciusko and Wabash county lines. Warren is accused of handcuffing the woman to a tree and sexually assaulting her for several hours. The victim told police that during the ordeal she was allowed to redress and check on her child periodically.

The woman reported the alleged assault when she and her daughter were freed and met with officers at the scene. While at the scene investigating, Warren drove past the area and a police pursuit began.

Warren was apprehended with the help of police K-9 units from Kosciusko and Whitley counties after he crashed his car and fled on foot.

Warren was initially set to stand trial in February but having hired Wabash County defense attorney Alan Zimmerman in January to replace public defender Jay Rigdon, a continuance was granted. The new three-day trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. each day, Sept. 18-20, in Kosciusko County Superior Court 1.