On-campus sexual assault shocks students; suspect in custody

Chapman’s department of Public Safety recently described an attempted sexual assault to a student who successfully defended themselves, causing the attacker to flee, near Henley Hall. TIFFANY LE, Staff Photographer

Trigger warning: sexual assault, rape

Ava Sirignano was half-asleep in her bedroom on the second floor of Henley Hall when screams jolted her awake. 

Her roommate snoozed across the room. Sirignano, dazed, pressed ‘‘pause’’ on her laptop, which was streaming Netflix, and froze. Screams saying, “I don’t know you, get away from me”  squeezed through the closed window’s thin glass barrier, spilling into the room. When Sirignano and her roommate finally rose out of bed and peered out the window, they saw the shadow of a figure running away.

At first, the two didn’t think much of the event. It was a Thursday night around 1 a.m. during the peak of fraternity rush season, after all. It wasn’t until the morning when Sirignano discovered that the screams were related to a sexual assault incident.

“We kind of brushed it off; nobody was really concerned because of everything going on that week,” said Sirignano, a freshman applied human physiology major. “Later that afternoon, when we got the email saying a girl was getting attacked outside our window, it was concerning. The first thing I said to my roommate was, ‘We saw him run away. We heard her screaming, and we didn’t do anything.’”

Chapman University’s department of Public Safety sent out an announcement Sept. 24 reporting an occurrence of sexual battery outside of the lower courtyard of Henley Hall from the previous night.

The email stated that the resident reported standing in the courtyard and making a phone call when an unknown person, who was hiding in the bushes, struck them in the face, causing them to fall to the ground.

The student also reported that the unknown figure — described as a 6-foot tall male wearing all black clothing and a skeleton mask — physically assaulted them on the ground. The resident fought back, forcing the attacker to flee. 

The student who thwarted the assailant told ABC7 they are a second-degree black belt in karate and only suffered from minor injuries after fighting back.

"He punches me in the face and I hit … the concrete trash can behind me; he’s just like beating me up," the student said. "I don't know if I hit him off (of me) or (if) he heard people coming. Somehow he got off (of me), and I chased him back up the stairs, cursing him out."

Public Safety and the Orange Police Department (OPD) identified a suspect after examining surveillance footage and sent out an image of the suspect Sept. 27.

Later that day, a family member brought the suspect — identified as Anaheim resident Dalante Jerome Bell — to Chapman’s campus, where he surrendered to Public Safety and OPD.

Chapman released an email announcement Sept. 28 confirming the suspect had been arrested and has no connection to the university. Bell was taken in for assault with the intent to commit rape and is being held on a $500,000 bail.

For Sirignano, knowing the incident occurred just outside her room is enough to cause unease. She said because she and her roommates take a lot of night classes, they’ve taken a variety of precautions in case of an emergency, like sharing their iPhone locations with one another.

“(My roommates and I) bought pepper spray, (and) we don’t go out alone at night anymore,” Sirignano said. “We’ve been talking a lot in Henley about how we should feel safe on our own campus. It was right outside the dorms, and to be attacked in a place where you should feel safe? That’s awful, and that shouldn’t happen.”

Since the incident, Sirignano said she wishes she had investigated further after hearing the screams.

“I felt so bad when I found out what happened; that somebody was in trouble, and I was there,” Sirignano said. “Knowing that I heard her screaming and she was the one who had to call the police herself, that’s so sad, and I wish I could have done something to help her.”

​​Two freshmen who also heard the student’s screams jumped into action.

Michael Zapesotsky and Joe Hoodenpyle declined to speak with The Panther but told Fox 11 how they heard the commotion and knew something was wrong.

“I push(ed) the screen out the window, and we both jump(ed) out the window and (ran) over toward where the noise (was) coming from, and there’s this girl there, and she’s just freaking out," Hoodenpyle told Fox 11.

Emily Cho, another freshman who lives in Henley, also heard the screams from her bedroom on the fourth floor. Cho saw residents approaching the affected student, who was yelling for help, after the attacker fled. Since then, Cho described feeling an unceasing sense of paranoia.

“I’ve always been a paranoid person, and this kind of made me more paranoid and validated my feelings of being paranoid,” said Cho, a freshman broadcast journalism and documentary major. “Right now, I’m doing my normal thing and walking around, but when it’s nighttime, I’m still a little worried about walking around outside by myself. I still have my pepper spray and walk around with people as much as I can.”