Johnson City faces new lawsuit over accusations it mishandled case of serial rape suspect

A woman who nearly died after she plummeted five stories from the condo of an alleged serial rape suspect in Johnson City has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that police failed to properly investigate her case.

Mikayla Evans in her lawsuit filed last week in the Eastern District of Tennessee says Johnson City businessman Sean Williams drugged her and pushed her out of the window of his fifth floor condo, shattering her legs and pelvis.

Police at the time were taking bribes from Williams and turning a blind eye as he drugged and raped dozens of women in the East Tennessee town, the lawsuit alleges.

Evans says police in her incident botched the investigation and gave Williams time to destroy evidence before closing the case.

The lawsuit is the latest against the city in a case that has sparked allegations of police misconduct and a federal public corruption probe.

The city is also facing a whistleblower lawsuit from a former federal prosecutor and a major class action lawsuit alleging that police for years ignored the actions of the serial rape suspect, even as multiple victims came forward.

Williams, 52, was arrested last year and faces state and federal charges related to child pornography, child sexual assault and drug trafficking.

When he was arrested, officers searched his car and found thumb drives containing more than 5,000 images of child porn and images and videos of 52 women in obvious states of unconsciousness being sexually assaulted by Williams, according to a police affidavit.

Surviving a 68-foot fall

Evans’ case was the catalyst for the investigation into Williams.

A single mom from Kingsport, Evans in September 2020 was walking with a friend in downtown Johnson City when they came across Williams, who was partying with friends in his garage, according to the suit.

Williams, an alleged cocaine trafficker and known party man around town, invited Evans and her friend over to his apartment.

She says in the lawsuit she was not drunk but began feeling the effects of a drug within 20 minutes and her speech began to slur.

She says Williams attempted to sexually assault her and then during the altercation pushed her out of his window, where she fell 68 feet to the ground.

She suffered multiple shattered bones and wasn’t expected to live. She struggled to learn how to walk again and continues to battle pain.

Her Knoxville-based lawyer, Ashleigh Beer-Vineyard, could not be reached for comment.

Johnson City police investigated the case as a possible attempted homicide. But in her lawsuit, Evans says officers did not allow her to be tested for date-rape drugs and that her rape kit was not properly administered.

When they brought in Williams for questioning, she says, police initially allowed him to keep his cell phone, giving him time to make calls and erase data.

Officers seized electronic devices and surveillance video from Williams' condo, but the devices remained in police custody for more than two years without being searched for evidence, according to the suit.

Officers also took a safe containing firearm ammunition and recovered a handwritten list on Williams’s nightstand, with the word “Raped,” followed by the first names of nearly a dozen females, according to lawsuits.

Lawyers representing Johnson City and multiple police officers in court documents have repeatedly denied allegations in the lawsuits.

In a statement Tuesday, the city said it has reviewed Evans’ complaint though it has not been officially served.

“These claims are related to incidents from nearly 4 years ago, and the allegations are largely the same as those we continue to deny in other litigation," the statement said. "We have yet to see any evidence that supports allegations of corruption by the Johnson City Police Department and continue to welcome any investigation that could dispel such claims.”

Former federal prosecutor Kateri Dahl, who was on contract in Johnson City to prosecute gun and drug crimes, said she repeatedly urged police to investigate Williams and was later fired from the contracting job after she complained.

Dahl in her whistle-blower lawsuit against the city said officers in May 2021 finally went to serve a federal arrest warrant for an illegal ammunition charge connected to the ammunition recovered in his safe. They went to Williams’ home, but left when nobody answered the door.

He then fled and remained a fugitive for nearly two years until a campus police officer at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, found him sleeping in his car.

Federal public corruption probe 

Evans’ case comes as explosive allegations continue to unfold in a class action lawsuit from multiple victims, alleging that police failed to investigate their sexual assault cases and dissuaded them from pressing charges.

Court filings allege that Williams’ business partner funneled $2,000 in weekly extortion payments for Johnson City police officers through a network of limited liability corporations.

The U.S. Department of Justice in August-September 2023 opened a public corruption investigation into allegations of police and government misconduct related to the Williams case and interviewed some victims in March, according to court records.

The department has declined comment on the case.

Williams has not yet been charged with the alleged sexual assaults of dozens of women.

In October, Williams escaped from custody by allegedly smashing out the back window of a transport van as guards were shuffling him to a federal court appearance in Greeneville.

He was captured a month later in Florida. His trial on the escape charge is set for August.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Johnson City serial rape suspect: Tennessee woman files federal suit