Michael Richardson

Shelby County Sheriff’s Detectives have charged a Fayette County man with kidnapping and then raping a woman in East Shelby County this past weekend.

Michael Richardson, 28, of Rossville, Tennessee, was taken into custody this morning. He was arrested by Sheriff’s Detectives in the General Investigation and Street Crimes Bureaus along with officers with the Mid-South Fugitive Task Force. The task force is comprised of officers from the United States Marshal’s Office, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department.

Investigators say early Saturday morning about 3 o’clock, a woman had left an East Memphis restaurant and was walking along Highway 64 near Houston Levee. Deputies say that’s when Richardson allegedly stopped his vehicle and forced the woman into his car.

Detectives say Richardson then drove the woman around the East Shelby County area for about an hour. He then stopped his car in a wooded area on Houston Levee near Walnut Grove Road where he raped the woman. Richardson then took the woman’s purse and cell phone and forced her out of his car.

A short time later, a Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol spotted the woman walking on Houston Levee near Woodland Hills. That’s when she told the Deputy she had been raped.

Investigators soon received information Richardson might be a suspect in the case. When arrested early today at his Rossville home, the victim’s cell phone was in his pants pocket.

Richardson also took Deputies today to an area along Highway 193 in Fayette County. That’s where investigators found the victim’s purse.

Michael Richardson has been charged with Aggravated Rape, Aggravated Kidnapping, Robbery and Aggravated Assault.