Alex Kelly

Real Name: Alex Andrew Kelly
Case: Rape
Location: Darien, Connecticut
Date: February 10, 1986

Case[]

Details: On the night of February 10, 1986, eighteen-year-old high school wrestler Alex Kelly met sixteen-year-old Adrianne Bak at a party. At 11PM, he offered to take her home in his girlfriend's Jeep Wagoneer. However, according to Adrianne, he did not take her home. Instead, he pulled into a secluded cul-de-sac and raped her. Four days later, he drove home another young woman from a party and allegedly raped her as well. Soon after, he was arrested and charged with both rapes. However, he denied the charges, claiming that both were acts of consensual sex.
Kelly was released on $200,000 bond, pending the start of his trial. However, when jury selection began, he was nowhere to be found. He apparently fled the country backed by his wealthy family to keep him out of prison. In July of 1994, police and FBI agents raided the Kelly home in Connecticut. They discovered that he had been spending the past eight years traveling Europe, living a lavish lifestyle at ski resorts and hotels. He also sent several letters to his parents, talking about his adventures. Photographs in the home showed that his parents actually visited him in Europe. An un-mailed letter revealed his address in Sweden.
In January of 1995, he surrendered to Swiss authorities. In May, he was extradited to the United States. He was arraigned on charges of sexual assault and kidnapping. He was released on $1 million bond. The trial for the first rape began in October of 1996. The star witness was Adrianne, his alleged victim. During her testimony, she claimed that he had his hand on her throat the entire time until he pushed her into the back seat. Defense attorneys used this testimony against her, claiming that if Kelly's hand was on her throat the entire time, he would have been unable to release and lower the back seat with his one free hand.
The case ended in a mistrial, with four to convict and two to acquit. Some of the jurors have stated that the testimony about the seat latch played an important role in the deliberations. According to Adrianne, she heard a sound behind her during the attack. The sound was apparently Kelly pulling a seat lever which would fold the back seat down. One of the jurors demonstrated for Unsolved Mysteries how he would be unable to pull the lever and push the seat down without using both hands.
An engineering consulting firm was also asked to analyze the case. The firm hired two actors to portray the victim and the attacker, using a 1983 Wagoneer. The attacker was told to try and pull the lever and push the seat down with one hand. He tried three times - each time he was successful. However, there was one flaw with the test. A decade of wear on the car might have made it easier for the actor to pull the lever and push the seat down.
The firm then brought in a 1990 Wagoneer to try and fix this flaw. During this test, the attacker was only able to get the seat down once out of four times. However, the employees at the firm do not believe that the ability to pull the seat down can be ruled in or out based on their tests.
Alex Kelly still faces a re-trial with the first rape and another trial with the second rape.
Extra Notes: The case first aired on the January 10, 1997 episode. The case was also documented on American Justice, Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice, and Vanity Fair Confidential.
Results: Solved. At his re-trial in May of 1997, Alex Kelly was convicted of the first rape. He later pleaded no contest to the second rape charge. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison. He was released on parole in 2007 after serving ten years.
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Alex Kelly

Case[]

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