photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

George Burgess appears at his rape trial on May 30, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

A young teen told a Douglas County jury that a defendant in a rape case had sexually assaulted her numerous times beginning around age 5 and that she “didn’t feel safe” to report the abuse until years after.

The accused, George Joseph Burgess Jr., 45, is standing trial this week on two counts of rape and 11 counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The charges are in connection with a series of events that occurred sometime between 2017 and 2019 in Douglas County, although the girl said he had abused her in multiple locations as he traveled across the country with her mother.

The now 13-year-old girl took the stand earlier this week and said that she and her mother had lived in several budget motels in Lawrence, as well as a campsite and the Lawrence Community Shelter. She said that Burgess sexually assaulted her at each location.

The first incident the girl said she could recall was when she was around 5 years old. She said it happened shortly after a parade when she had dressed up like a clown. She said she remembered living in a purple house that as a younger child seemed like a mansion to her. Her mother was out of the house and Burgess took her into a bedroom, where he raped her and told her not to tell her mother, she said.

She then described in more detail several other similar incidents that happened while the three were staying at Lawrence motels. She also said Burgess assaulted her while the three were traveling on the West Coast, but those alleged incidents are not part of the Douglas County case.

Suzanne Valdez during opening arguments on May 30, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

She said that she never told anyone because Burgess threatened to hurt her mother if she ever told. She also testified at one point that she believed her mother would kill Burgess if she knew and she didn’t want that to happen.

She said the abuse ended in early 2020, when her mother took her one day to her grandparents’ house in rural Leavenworth County. She said that her mother brought her inside, then took a walk, which she often did, but this time she didn’t return.

“That was the last time I saw my mom. She was having a rough time. She went for a walk and never came back,” the girl said.

The girl’s grandmother later testified that the girl’s mother killed herself that day. Before doing so, she told the grandmother, her own mother, that Burgess may have behaved inappropriately with the girl.

The girl testified that she didn’t tell anyone about the sexual abuse for more than a year after that.

“I didn’t feel safe,” she said.

She said she didn’t know where Burgess was or whether he would come for her some day.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Attorney Dakota Loomis and District Attorney Suzanne Valdez at Judge Sally Pokorny’s bench on May 30, 2024.

After her mother died, she wanted to continue to make art because it was a hobby she shared with her mother. Her grandmother gave her some art supplies from storage. The girl said that in one of the notebooks from those supplies was a note in child’s handwriting. The girl recognized the writing to be her own, she said.

The note indicated that she was 8, almost 9, at the time of writing it, and it said that Burgess had started touching her when she was about 5 and no one knew about it but Burgess and her. She ripped the note out and hid it in a book in her room, she said.

She finally shared the note and her experiences with her adoptive father in December 2021.

“I told him not to freak out,” she said before she told him about the abuse.

Her adoptive father then called her grandmother and they met the next day to discuss it. Soon after they called the police.

After the girl testified, her adoptive father testified about how the girl came to be in his care and how she disclosed the abuse. The girl’s grandmother testified that she was very close with the girl and her mother. She said that Burgess and the mother had problems with drugs and had lived a very transient lifestyle, moving frequently and changing telephone numbers often.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Douglas County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Folks testifies on May 31, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

After calling police, the family eventually connected with Douglas County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Folks, who led the investigation and interviewed Burgess, who had been living outside at the time.

Recordings of the two interviews that Folks conducted with Burgess were played in court on Friday. In the first interview, Burgess vehemently denied ever having any sexual contact with the girl.

“I never touched (her),” Burgess said in the recording. “Ask anyone who knows me.”

Burgess told Folks he thought the girl made up the allegations. He said he thought that she had been told to do it, either by the grandparents and the new adoptive father or by the mother prior to her death.

“I don’t know what she put in that girl’s head,” Burgess said.

He also claimed that the girl’s grandfather had promised to “spend his last dime” to make sure Burgess went to prison and could never see the girl again.

In a second interview two weeks later, Burgess again denied the allegations and reiterated his belief that the girl’s grandparents were conspiring against him. He suggested that someone else might have abused the girl, and claimed that the girl’s mother had dated a convicted sex offender at one point.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Attorney Dakota Loomis on May 31, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

Burgess’ attorney, Dakota Loomis, asked Folks on Friday if Folks ever followed up on Burgess’ suggestion. Folks said he did not, because the girl had not suggested that another man might have assaulted her and no one else in the mother’s family knew anything about another man.

During the second interview, Burgess also threatened to kill the girl’s adoptive father if he ever got the chance.

“(He) is putting her up to it,” Burgess said. “That drunk piece of [expletive]. If I ever get out of here, I’ll kill that [expletive]. I know where he lives.”

The trial is set to resume on Monday, and the parties hope to give the case over to the jury by Tuesday afternoon.

District Attorney Suzanne Valdez, who is prosecuting the case, told the jurors on Thursday that they would have to make their decision based on the girl’s story, what she testified to and what she told those around her.

“This is her story. She waited until she felt safe,” Valdez said.

Loomis, on the other hand, argued that the state lacked corroborating evidence such as DNA or an eyewitness and that the timeline didn’t make sense. He said that for at least a year of the time when Burgess was alleged to have assaulted the girl, Burgess was in jail in Leavenworth County; Loomis didn’t say what for.

Burgess is currently in custody on a $100,000 bond.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Left to right: George Burgess, attorney Branden Smith, attorney Dakota Loomis, District Attorney Suzanne Valdez on May 30, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.