Waterbury, Conn. — Years before allegedly strangling a woman in Kansas, a Connecticut man told police that he was confused, needed professional help and had been exposing himself to young girls, the Republican-American of Waterbury reported today.
But Benjamin Appleby was not arrested and never received sex offender treatment. By the time Connecticut investigators came looking for him, he was gone.
Police now say he surfaced in Kansas, where he is charged with strangling 19-year-old Ali Kemp and leaving her body in the pump room of a neighborhood swimming pool in 2002.
Connecticut state police arrested Appleby last week and turned him over to Kansas authorities Wednesday. He'll be on suicide watch while he awaits trial on attempted rape and murder charges.
Had Appleby been arrested in Connecticut in 1998, he could have been charged with risking the injury of a minor, a felony that carries up to 10 year in prison. But it would have been up to a judge to decide a sentence.
Documents obtained by the newspaper show that in 1998 Appleby confessed to exposing himself and masturbating in front of underage girls in New Milford and Woodbury.
"I'm not trying to hurt anyone and I don't want the girls to get in the car with me," Appleby told New Milford police, according to the police documents. "I can't understand the whole thing, it is like I'm two different people. I know I need professional help and I'm a strong person."
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