MEMPHIS, Tenn. A friend of a rape victim is sending a message to the Memphis district attorney. She wants Kelvin Montgomery’s charges to be upgraded from aggravated rape to attempted murder. Montgomery is accused of brutally raping a woman on Father’s day.
A wanted poster is still hanging outside of Montgomery’s home on Willow Road. Police now have him in custody but friends and family of the victim are worried at any minute he could get out of jail.
“I mean he is sick. He is sick. For him to have a bond? He shouldn’t even have a bond,” said Jennifer, a friend of the rape victim who didn’t want to give her last name.
With the help of a bails bondsman, Montgomery could be out of jail with $10,000. He’s a man accused of handcuffing a woman at his Willow Road home, gagging her, beating her, choking her then raping her.
“You could almost get a complete picture, a hand print of his hands around her neck,” said Jennifer about the victim’s bruises. “That’s how long this man – four hours– was just strangling her saying, ‘You’re going to die. You’re going to die’.”
Jennifer says her friend escaped from Montgomery’s house by pretending to be dead. When he fell asleep she ran naked for help. Jennifer believes Montgomery had every intention of killing her and now that he’s been caught, she’s outraged that Montgomery is only charged with aggravated rape.
“What do you want to see him charged with?” asked Reporter Sabrina Hall.
“Attempted murder,” said Jennifer. “Attempted murder without a doubt.”
Montgomery runs a home repair business and owns the home on Willow. Jennifer believes it would be easy for him to get enough money to bond out and be back on the street. She wants the D.A. to increase his charges and take away his bond, while her friend recovers from something she was lucky to have survived, “She will never be the same.”
Jennifer printed dozens of ‘wanted’ posters around town to help police track Montgomery down. It took detectives four days to find him. He’s in jail now on $100,000 bond and expected to appear in court on Monday.