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Arrest made in Mother’s Day sex assault case

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

     Warrants charging forced sexual assault and strangulation in the Mother’s Day attack of a Tabor City woman in her home were served Saturday, Maj. Russell Conway of the Tabor City Police Department said.

     Whitney Leon Duncan, 52, of Barry Street, was arrested following a traffic stop near Food Lion. A tip that Duncan was headed towards Tabor City from an Horry County convenience store led police to the fugitive.

     Duncan was charged with second degree forced sexual assault, assault by strangulation, felony larceny of a motor vehicle, and common law robbery and booked into the Columbus County Detention Center under bonds totaling $250,000, Conway said.

Five week fugitive

     Police had been searching for Duncan for nearly five weeks following the May 8 assault.

     Conway, last month, said the 76 year-old victim knew her attacker, and answered his knock on her door just after 11:30 a.m. on Mother’s Day, allowing him inside.

     “He tried to choke her, sexually assaulted her, but did not succeed in raping her,” Conway said. “She broke free, was able to get out of the house, and took off running.”

     Look for more on this story in the next Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.